The Kids Aren't Alright
by NovaStars42
Summary: A collection of one shots following a particular neighborhood of thirty four kids the summer after graduation, focusing on their lives and growin up. It'd be nice if things would stay the same for just a little while, wouldn't it? (multipairing, multichapter, including LatulaMituna, KanayaRose, DaveKarkat, and others.)
1. My Youth Is Yours (LatulaMituna)

"I think you should get a dog," I say, adjusting my square shaped sunglasses. I remove them to put them back on, perching them on top of my head. "Name it Ralph or something like that."

My younger sister throws back her head and laughs, "that's a horrible name, Latula. I love it."

Her tone is a little menacing there at the end, but I don't mind. Terezi has always been sort of off.

"I'll get online later and look it up, find a program or something," I reply.

The dog and program in question are, of course, a seeing eye dog and a charity to gift little blind kids one, because, of course, my sister is blind.

We'd been here for three whole days, my mom and I both, sitting up with Terezi. I didn't know days could pass so slow. When your sister has a catastrophic accident, you find out a lot of things you didn't want to. Terzei's partner in crime was next door, down one arm and one eye from the same accident. She would be able to see though, and she would be able to get around on her own. I wasn't mad at Aranea's little sister, but why did it have to be my Terezi?

I balled my hands in to firsts. Terezi didn't need to see me so upset anyway. She just needed to sit in her little hospital bed, eat Ice cream, and get those bandages off her face. In due time, of course. She still had a few more days before she could leave.

We had the lights shut off in this little room, and I'd described the sunny summer mural on the wall to my sister twice. We'd tried to watch some TV, but with just the audio, Terezi didn't get much out of it. It was frustrating for me and mom to watch her try to deal. She kept asking for her 'scourge sister', whatever that meant. We decided not to tell her Vriska was still unconscious.

"Hey, TZ! Guess who!"

My head whipped around to the door where light flooded in, and the most handsome, almost high school senior in the world stood.

"Mituna!" Terezi's shrill voice exclaimed.

He'd washed his hair since the last night when he'd drove me home, but it was still wild and untamed, and still hanging in his face. He'd put on clean cloths too, unlike me who'd been wearing the same socks since we called the ambulance. My totally rad boyfriend swooped in, pecked me on the cheek and then moved quickly to sit next to my sister on the bed.

"How you feeling?" He asked, wrapping an arm around her as she wrapped one around him.

"I'd be better if they had more than cartoon channels on this TV, I'm missing Judge Judy!" Terezi complained.

"Your not gonna have time for TV," Mituna smiled, squeezing her tight to him, "guess who I brought along?"

"Sollux!" She guessed.

"Yup! Somebody else too. Guess again," Mituna urged, smiling up at me. He was always so good with her.

"Oh, not Eridan?" Terezi grimaced. Mituna laughed at her.

"It's not nice to laugh at a blind girl!" My sister shot back, and Mituna only laughed harder.

"No, TZ, I wouldn't do that to anybody I actually liked," he replied, ruffling the back of her short hair, but careful of the bandages. "Okay, Come in guys."

From around the corner came Terezi's surprises. Karkat, a longtime friend if Terezi's was leading. Following behind him was Sollux, Mituna's younger brother. Karkat slouched, like usual, but I noticed he had writing on his hand under his long sleeve. "KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN, FUCKASS," it read, and that sounded like advice Karkat should take from himself. What, with being the loudest kid in the tri-county area. Sollux was back rocking his mismatched vans, one red and one blue. The kid had some interesting fashion choices but I wasn't going to say anything.

"Hey TZ, what'th up?" The younger captor brother lisped.

"Hi Terezi," Karkat greeted, grumbling in that perpetually grumpy tone of his.

"Oh, not much," my sister replied dryly, "just bored out of my mind."

Mituna got up off the bed, moving away from the kids, and grabbed my elbow, sliding us out of the room. He closed the door to Terezi's room and turned to face me, grinning like a man mad. He wrapped his free arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, his other still resting on my elbow.

I closed the distance between us, coy eyes fluttering shut as our lips met. He tilted his head, pressing closer to me. It didn't last though, we were in public after all, and sloppy make outs were generally frowned upon. When he pulled away he was still smiling, and now I was too.

He'd given me mouth to mouth smile resuscitation and I'd taken to it like a bee to honey.

"How's my tulip?" He asked, leaning his forehead to mine where my bangs stuck to my forehead.

"Better," I replied, giggling, "now I've got my Tuna."

"That's good," he huffed, still smiling, and gave me a chaste kiss on the nose.

"I wanna take you somewhere," he continued, "if you feel up to it."

I frowned, sighing as my gaze drifted down, "I would love to, babe, but I can't. I can't leave Terezi."

"I've got it covered," he said, much to my surprise. "I've got Meulin and Kurloz on it. I called everybody and I've got a goddamn sheriff's posse assembled to come keep her mind off stuff while you're gone."

"Did you call my mom?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows, directing my gaze back up to him.

"Didn't, nope," he was still grinning, still my overconfident Tuna, "I figured you could tell her you're with me and it'll be fine."

"I guess it must be pretty special if you pulled Kurloz out of the smoke haze for this," I mused, "I'm still not sure if I should leave my sister though."

Mituna had some hair brained scheme to do this if I knew him, chock full of bribery and instant-messenger shenanigans. His grin broadened, if that was possible, as he launched his explain action. "I've got Sollux and Karkat here now, Kankri is coming to pick them up later. At two, Meulin is bringing Nepeta and Equius. When they leave at four, Kurloz is bringing Gamzee and Tavros. Then Meulin is gonna bring Nepeta back up with Aradia, and they'll stay until your mom gets here at eight. It's covered, she won't even notice you're gone."

"But Terezi hates Gamzee," I objected.

"Yeah, well," Mituna's voice dropped to a hush, "I guess the kids tripping on shit so hard right now he probably won't even speak."

"That's gross," I said, sticking my tongue out, "how can Kurloz let him do that?"

Mituna just shrugged. Kurloz's business was not his business and what two kids did alone in a drug house was not his problem. Kurloz was his best friend though, and he wouldn't let Mituna down.

"I've got everything ready," he redirected, "go say goodbye to Terezi, you'll be back."

I'm reluctant to move. I don't want to leave Terezi, but then again, I haven't been home for more than than two hours at a time since the accident.

My summer, my last big hurrah before senior year, before stuff got serious, was turning out tremendously different than I'd wanted it. It wouldn't kill me to leave, but I didn't want to.

Mituna raised his eyebrows, silently asking me what was up.

Oh, just screw it!

This was handled. Terezi would have a ton of friends here, she wouldn't be alone. I deserved a break.

I pulled out of my boyfriends arms and slipped back into the room, approaching my sister from the opposite side of the bed her friends stood on.

"Latula?" She asked. She must have been able to hear my shoes or something.

"Hey, Sissy, I'm gonna go with Mituna for a while. You gonna be alright here?" I asked, reaching down to hold her left hand.

"Oh yes," she grinned, squeezing my hand before she let go, "Karkat brought crayons. Look at this."

She presented me with a piece of paper, covered in scrawl. She cackled, and I laughed too. It was supposed to be me, I think, except the once talented drawer now couldn't see her hand. It was just a black blob on top of a teal blob, with a red line across the middle. My sunglasses, I figured. I could see her doing portraits of Karkat and Sollux too.

"This is a masterpiece," I grinned, folding the paper to stick in my pocket.

"Isn't it? I've found my calling," she said, and then she cackled again.

"Okay, well," I found myself procrastinating, standing awkwardly by her, "if you're sure it's okay."

"Have fun," she grinned, but then a look of worry crossed her face, "oh, wait, Latula?"

I perked up, thinking she needed something, and I was about to jump to go get it for her.

"Thanks," she said, a little softer this time, worry morphing into sincerity, "for being such a rad big sister and staying with me so long."

I bite my lower lip to keep it from quivering. I pulled her into a quick hug and rested my face near her temple. My sister smelled like hospital and antiseptic, not like her cherry shampoo. I had to leave, now, before I cried. I didn't kiss her, just sniffled a little, and pulled away. I still didn't want to leave her.

"Bye," I bid, and I quickly left, shutting the door and sealing Terezi inside.

Mituna grabbed my hand as I walk by, blazing a path through the halls to the elevator. I was hyper aware of where I was. I dodged the same nurses I had been for the last three days, except this time I'm walking fast enough they're a blur. I jammed the button repeatedly for a lift once we reached the elevators. It infuriated me that it just wouldn't come fast enough.

"God damn this shit," I cursed, and finally I'm just all done holding back. I buried my face in my hands and Mituna wrapped me tight against his chest, and cradling my head into the crook of his neck.

Why Terezi? Why my little sister?

She used to be a talented artist. She used to like to make role playing costumes. She used to like to run and jump in the woods, and she liked playing in the cul-de-sac we called home. I wondered if she could still do any of that? She was only thirteen, she was still a baby.

It hadn't been my turn to watch them. Aranea had been right there when it'd happened and there was nothing she could have done. There was nothing I could have done.

The elevator binged, and its doors opened. People stumbled out of it, but I couldn't see their faces. They didn't spare me a second glance, people crying at hospitals was common. Mituna ushered me inside. We rode it down to the ground floor, and he walked with his arm around my hips out to his car.

Mituna's car was a silver beater from two thousand five. It had six dents on the driver's side, two of which he had put there. His dad had paid for half of it last summer when Tuna got his license. It had a hundred thousand miles but a convertible top, which he'd left down.

I loved it when he let the top down.

He loved it when my hair blew loose in the wind. He always told me I looked so pretty.

He scooted the car out of the parking lot and got us on the road, jumping on to the highway nearby. He had tissues in the console and the music turned up, blasting down the highway as we flew away from the hospital.

My favorite song was on but I couldn't be bothered to care.

I dried my eyes and decided looking out the window was probably best for me right now. I wanted to know where we were going, but I knew Tuna wouldn't spill it.

I pulled my hair out of the pony tail it'd be in for days and let my head lean back on the shotgun seat. I was so tired. It hit me just then. I tried to remember how much sleep I'd gotten, but I couldn't. Mom still had to work so she was the one that needed to rest, not me. It didn't matter though, even when Terezi was asleep I was still awake.

"If you wanna nap on the way there, go ahead 'Tula, I don't mind," Tuna offered, turning down the radio.

I shook my head, not that he could see. The sun was so bright and warm, the air on my skin felt good. I was glad now I'd come.

"Reach me my sunglasses from behind the seat?" Mituna asked, not taking his eyes away from the road. I hummed in response and leaned over in my seat belt until I could peer into the back seat. His sunglasses were laying forgotten on the ground, but placed carefully in the seat was a trio of bags. His canvas duffle bag he used when he stayed over, my school bag from last year, and a bag we usually took skateboarding. I snatched his sunglasses up and righted myself in my seat.

"Tuna, where are we going?" I asked, turning to him. This is serious, I couldn't fathom why we would need all this. "And what's in the bags?"

"There's just normal stuff in the bags. Extra cloths, your phone charger, don't worry," he explained, trying to brush the question off, "and before you ask, I didn't go rifling through your underwear. That was Meulin.

He let Meulin in my house? Oh, God what? Not cool. Not cool at all. He might have known my garage door passcode, but that was not an okay to just go using it whenever around whoever. I wondered if Kurloz was there too. That was a scary thought, I don't even know how Meulin's family stood him.

"Mituna, what's going on?" I asked. Suddenly I don't think I'm so okay with this road trip. I hand him his sunglasses anyway.

"It's a surprise Tulip," his grin never faltered and he put on his shades as he speaks, "we're going boarding. Is that a good enough explanation? I don't want to ruin it."

I'm not happy about it, but I accepted that answer. I crossed my arms and leaned back into the seat.

An hour later we were still on the road. Two hours after that and I'd fallen asleep.

I'm not sure where we were when I woke up, but it was four hours away from home, and according to my phone it was four o'clock. Terezi was on my mind even before my eyes opened, and I couldn't believe how far he'd taken me away from her. Even with her friends, even with mom, she still needed me.

We still had time, mom gets out of work at eight and heads home around eleven. We have time to get back, but that's not what worried me, what worried me is the car was stopped and Mituna wasn't here. I unbuckled my seatbelt and I opened the car door. I was freaking out, this is so, so not cool. Best I could tell, this was some ice cream parlor on-Wait, hold on.

In front of me, blind to my eyes, was the ocean. I could see it, I could hear it. Waves crashed on the sand, and the sun was still bright. The air smelled like salt and there's was a lot of moisture in the air. Gulls cried overhead. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I was standing there, my jaw on the pavement and the car door open.

I'd never been here before. I'd never seen the ocean.

It's so big. It spans all the way to the horizon and it kept going. It kept going in every direction. I'd never seen anything like these sparkling waves before.

"Latula?" I didn't expect Mituna to come up behind me, but I didn't jump.

I felt my boyfriend's hand on the small of my back, and he joined me, gawking at the vast body of water. He leaned in, kissing my cheek before he whispered, "I feel like that every time I look at you."

A blush rose to my features and I looked over at him. He's just standing there.

Suddenly my mind is clear. It's okay. He maked me feel okay.

"I got the boards in the trunk, wanna explore?" He asked, his grin from earlier returning.

"Sure," I smiled, because his was contagious. He puts the top up on the car, locked it, and then grabbed our skateboards out of the trunk.

Mine was my favorite color, teal, and I'd stuck all kinds of stickers on it. A heart for Tuna, a couple little Pokemon (because who didn't think Pokemon was rad?), and a dragon. It was big and white, and it was from a band I didn't care for but it was cool at least. Tuna's board was gold. He's had all kinds of quotes scrawled on it, things I'd said to him, stuff Kurloz said when he was stoned, quotes from books and movies and stupid doodles.

We strode out of the parking lot and onto a wide sidewalk where we both sat our boards down and pushed off, riding off down the beachfront. It wasn't busy, there weren't a lot of people, being a weekday and still inside normal work hours. We rode down the beach so far I couldn't see the car anymore, and we kept going. Eventually we reached a more populated area, a boardwalk with stores and a few flights of stairs with railing to grind on.

We did stupid couple shit for hours.

We skateboarded, took selfies, walked down the beach with slushies, and just hung around being cute. If it wasn't me on his arm I'd be gagging with all the PDA.

I threw the cup to my cherry slushy in the trash as I rode by it, pushing my foot off the ground to keep myself rolling. As we reached the car, I stepped on the back of my board, the front of it coming up so I could pick it up. My boyfriend popped the trunk, put his inside, and places mine next to it as I hand it to him. Our legs ached, and just as I think he's probably ready to go home, he pulls a blanket out of a bag in the back seat and asked me to watch the sunset with him.

He'd never been sentimental like that. Most days I wasn't sure if he was aware the sun even orbited the earth, but there he was. Today had been a weird day, a weird couple of days actually. I didn't pay it any extra attention.

I can't say no.

He took my hand as we walked down to the beach. As we got closer to the water and closer to where the tides came in, the wind picked up. Mituna spread the blanket out and I we both lose our shoes, and our socks. The sand wasn't burning hot like I thought it would be. He spread out eagle, and smiled at me when I settled down next to him. I propped my head up on his arm and angle my legs away from his. My hands laid palm up. Even though everything was loud, the gulls, the water, the other people, I was pretty relaxed.

"Did you decide which classes you're gonna take in the fall?" Mituna asked, folding one arm over his abdomen.

"I wanna take drafting and design," I huffed, "I'm really hoping that does it for me. I still don't know what I wanna be."

"Me either," he confides.

"Terezi's got it in her head she wants to be a lawyer. I don't know how that's gonna go over now," I said, almost bitterly. Mituna smirked.

"Sollux, that little shit, he's getting better and better at computers."

That made me giggle, because it figured. Mituna's house was pretty much nerd central. Sollux had the place overrun with computers and parts and all sorts if technogeek nonsense. Mituna and their dad just put up with it.

It's weird how the kids already had a career and I was laying on the beach, thinking about a whole lot of nothing. My cell phone was long forgotten in my pocket. I didn't even think to call my mom even though was eight fifty and there was more dark in the sky than there was light.

"What are you gonna take?" I asked, looking over at him. His eyes were anchored to the purple sky.

"I dunno. Auto shop maybe, or newspaper or year book or something that won't bore me out of my head," he said that last part like it was funny. I looked away from him and followed his gaze to the star peppered sky.

"I'm excited for college, even if I don't know where I'm headed," I added. He noded even though I didn't see it.

"Me too," he agreed, and not to be outdone, he continued on to the next subject.

"You know, I'm gonna be eighteen in September, and you will be in November. But I guess that doesn't have anything to do with it, not if we don't want it to," he bit his lip, "but I've been thinking about this a really long time."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm. Probably since last summer," he agreed, "I just wanted to see where this was gonna go, at first, but I think I know now."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What, Mituna?"

"Well, it's just, I've had this planned out for a while. And then Terezi got hurt and I wasn't sure if it was a good idea anymore."

He's not trying to be careful, but I can sense apprehension in his tone.

"Well I'm here," I grinned, looking over at him while he's staring up at the stars.

"I'm glad you're here," he hummed, and then he met my gaze. "I have a really important thing I wanna ask you."

"Ask me," I said, looking back up at the stars. I closed my eyes for just a second. I could hear his voice over the sound of the waves, I could even feel him breathe, he filled my senses entirely.

"Okay," he snorted, like something was funny, and then he shuffled around for a second.

Something cold pressed into the palm of my hand and my eyes opened to see what it is.

It's was ring. A skinny, gold band with a single stone in the middle. It was tiny, and white, and it wa anchored into the ring, not set outside of it. It was clean, like it just came from the store and I couldn't help but stare at it.

"Latula, would you marry me?"

"Mituna…" I trailed off, my mouth hung open in awe.

"We can't, until the fall. I know that, but I know you're the one for me too. I'll marry you this fall, next summer, ten years from now, whenever you want. I just want you to be mine."

I swallowed hard as I turned the ring over in my fingers. This wasn't a promise ring, this was a wedding ring. I can't just not look at it, I can't look away. For just a minute I didn't hear or feel anything, there was just this cold metal band in my hand.

I should say something, I realized. Mituna's probably freaking out because I haven't answered him.

I don't know what to say.

I wanna marry him, I wanna marry him so bad. The nagging thought of college is picking my brain though, and senior year. God, we still had all of senior year to go.

"I mean it," he said, and I managed to pull myself away from the ring to look up at him as he spoke.

"I'll wait as long as it takes for you to be ready," his voice was firm, but I can seat his eyes are glassy.

I could feel tears welling in my eyes too. I used the hand not holding the ring to scrub my left eye. I smiled, taking my sunglasses off so I could look at him, really look at him.

"I don't understand why you're asking me now," I choked out. It sounded more confident than it actually was.

"Well," he laughed a little, wiping his own eyes.

"Like I said earlier, I didn't count on Terezi getting hurt. Some crazy stuff happened. Sollux getting a scholarship for his programming, my dad getting promoted and then fired," his hands dropped to the blanket, "stuff just changes so fast. This is senior year, and everybody keeps telling us to get out of this town and make something of ourselves."

I remembered all of that happening over the last few months. He told me everything after all.

"I can't do that, Latula," he continued, "I can't do that without you. I don't want to be alone."

I just nod, slowly.

I understood.

"It's crazy," I laughed nervously, "how stuff changes. Your right."

We were changing right now.

"Do you want me to ask you again later?" He asked hesitantly, "when stuff calms down?"

"No," I spit out quickly. I could tell he's not sure how to respond to that.

Neither of us said anything for what felt like an eternity. I was sure he was beating himself up over this. I really needed to answer him. He looked scared.

If I was upfront, if I said I wasn't ready and gave it back, we could keep going like we had been the last two years. No, actually, it wouldn't. This changed everything.

If I was upfront and told him now, he wouldn't be… Hurt? No, let down, as bad if I just squirreled around the question. I loved Mituna. I loved him from the bottom of the heart, as much as I loved my little sister. Was I ready for this? I honest to god didn't think so.

"Hey, Tuna?" I asked, hiccuping a little as a grin rose to my lips, "this is a pretty rad ring."

"You like it?" He questioned, "I know it's small, but I figured it was your style."

"Yeah," I said firmly, "I really like it. Just one problem."

He quirks an eyebrow, frowning. "What?"

"It ain't gonna put itself on my finger."

Suddenly everything melts away except for the sound of his laughter. He put a hand over his mouth, trying to stifle himself, but to no avail. I could see tears leaking out at the corners of his eyes and I'm sure mine are wet too. I hand him the ring, and he takes it, gently. He was careful about sliding it onto my left ring finger, like it would crumble away if he was too rough.

What had I just agreed to?

He laced his fingers with mine, and he moved to rest them on the blanket, grinning like a badger in a beehive. I realized I was smiling too, because my face was honest to god starting to hurt.

We lay there, on the beach, in the dark under the stars for the rest of the night. At least until my mom called, demanding to know where the hell I was.

"Chill out," I told her, "I'm with Mituna."

"I get here and this strange girl and all these kids were in Terezi's room!" She shouted, "you'd better have a pretty good explanation for this!"

"I do!" I exclaimed, "I have, like, the best explanation ever."

* * *

So you'll have to forgive me? This is what i did instead of update my other two stories this month. I've been binging on Homestuck for the last month, more like three weeks really. Mituna and Latula are my new OTP, I thought they needed something happy. This is Mituna pre-accident. If I write another it'll be post accident.

Also, I tried to write this like the comic, in command from, which is weird. Half way though i changed it but I kept switching back for some reason? I'm exhausted trying to edit this, so if there are errors its because I missed them when I went though.


	2. Give It Time (LatulaMituna)

The front door slammed shut like I knew it would and nails clicked on the hardwood floors. I heard Terezi's shoes hit the wall as she kicked them off. She groaned, loud and frustrated.

"Vriska again?" I called through the house.

"Always," she shot back. She'd been fighting with her best friend on and off all summer. When she'd left ten minutes ago I knew it wouldn't end well. They argued in the street until they both parted ways, storming back to their respective residences. I'd seen it all out the front window.

"Sometimes I wanna steal that stupid prosthetic arm of hers and hang it from a tree," my sister huffed as she entered the room. She'd left her cane somewhere and instead used her hand to feel the walls leading her and her guide dog to the couch. Pyral, the yellow lab, looked out for her but it was up to her to decide where to lead. I didn't pause my game as she flopped down on the couch and set to letting the guide dog loose.

"That wouldn't be too funny. Except to us," I smirked. She giggled in that unsettling way she always had.

"Hang it just high enough she can't reach it," she added. I snickered.

I mashed buttons on my wireless controller as the screen flashed with my latest achievement. I'd gotten this game three days ago and I'd started binge playing it right away. I hadn't left the house in days, even before I sent Terezi to the store to buy the game for me.

"Are you still going to see Mituna today?" She asked, turning her head to look at me with empty eyes. Her sunglasses were off, she'd never put them on this morning.

I didn't answer her, just kept mashing buttons.

"Latula?" She asked. This time I paused the game.

"Yeah," I answered, staring blankly at the TV. "Yeah, I'm gonna go see him."

"Gamzee's brother is over there right now," she offered. I could hear the distaste on her tongue as she spit the name of her most hated neighbor off of her tongue. Kurloz was okay, I guessed. Creepy, and perpetually smelled like weed, but okay.

"I'll wait until he leaves," I replied.

"Go now," she urged. I turned to look at her. I waited for her to reply, but then I realized she couldn't see my questioning expression. A year since her accident hadn't made it any easier.

"Why?"

"Because, Karkat is coming over," she smirked.

"Eww, Terezi," I laughed, "you put your mouth on that kid?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?' She cackled. I reached over, dropping my controller and locking my arm around her shoulders. She screeched and I gave my sister a noogie, thoroughly messing up her hair and causing the dog to bark.

"I don't know if I should leave!" I grinned, "and leave my poor, innocent little sister with a boy!"

Terezi fought me off, licking my arm and causing me to shriek into laughter before she managed to push me off.

"It's not like that at all!" She insisted.

"Sure," I huffed, still smiling, "because if I found you you did!"

"Latula!" She groaned.

I got up off the couch and stretched after saving my game and looked around for my socks.

"Okay, okay. I'll go."

"Bye."

Terezi flopped down where I had just been sitting and grinned at me menacingly with her teeth. I had such a weird sister. She was adorable.

I decided to ditch the socks and wear flip flops over to my boyfriend's instead. I left the front door unlocked so Karkat could let himself in. As I walked across the street, it seemed like everyone in our lively neighborhood was up to something.

Karkat Vantas was half out of his front door, screaming at his older brother Kankri, as the older boy lectured him. Vriska had made herself scarce. Her older sister Aranea was outside, reading on their measly front porch. Mrs. Leijon was home, and I could see her talking to one of the family's many cats in her garage.

The walk to the Captor house wasn't a long one. I was just dragging my feet.

The house was identical to every other house in the neighborhood. but it loomed over me, unlike all the others. I'd walked this route a million times, there shouldn't be anything different about it.

As I started up the driveway, Sollux, Mituna's younger brother came out of the house.

"Hey," I greeted, raising my hand to wave at him. The way he looked at me I already knew he was in one of his moods.

"I wouldn't go in there if I wath you," he warned, very seriously.

"Why not?" I asked, stopping short.

He kept walking, his face sort of grave. He never uttered another word to me. I chalked it up to him and his mood swings I thought they should medicate him for.

Sollux was gone, but I was still standing in the driveway, next to Mr. Captor's car, staring at the front door. It was fine, I was sure.

I thought back to last winter, the day after New Years. I got a call at three in the morning, Sollux was on the other end, crying, telling me his brother had been in a car accident. I thought the worst. I thought he was dead. I woke my mom up and she took me to the hospital, the one Terezi had been in six months earlier.

He wished he was dead, he told me three days later. And then he screamed and the nurses gave him more morphine. He'd hit his head on the dash, causing damage to his brain and nervous system. He was miserable.

He continued to be miserable the rest of senior year. He twitched and shook and his words wouldn't obey him. Most of his sentences consisted of strings of curse words. By graduation in May he was angry at everything and everyone.

He was distant. I didn't blame him. Most of his text messages were riddled with spelling errors and random numbers thrown in. After a while he stopped texting me all together.

I wasn't much better. I'd been avoiding him since our siblings got out of school for the summer.

I wasn't sure if wanted to go inside anymore.

I should though. I should go see him. I promised.

I took a deep breath and walked to the front door.

Mr. Captor, the sole parent in the household, was standing near the door when I opened it. He was just standing there, looking at something.

I froze.

Mituna was laughing in the other room. A genuine laugh that carried through the house in a way it hadn't since there had been snow on the ground.

"God, you suck at this game, Kurloz!" He said with no sting to his tone. His best friend's deep chuckle followed it.

I walked over the house's threshold and around my boyfriend's dad. I approached them before I even registered I was moving. They both looked away from the television and shifted their attention to me.

"Latula!" Mituna grinned and he held out his arm. He was urging me to hug him, or take his hand or cuddle up next to him or something. Something he hadn't done in a long time. Something we hadn't done in a long time.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever," he continued, grasping my hand as I offered mine to him.

"Tuna?" I didn't trust my ears. He spoke in full, articulated sentences. He made sense.

"Who else?" He asked. He scooted closer to Kurloz on the couch and pulled me to sit next to him. Kurloz rose a hand, offering me a half wave as a hello. I waved back at him.

"Are you feeling okay?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah," he replied, cheerful, "now that I've got my Tulip, anyway."

Kurloz rolled his eyes and slugged Mituna in the shoulder. Mituna laughed, and they both turned back to the game they were playing on Tuna's Xbox.

"I know I promised we'd spend some time together. Just give us a sec, we'll shut it off," Mituna told me, not looking away from the screen.

"No, it's cool," I returned.

He cocked an eyebrow and threw me a sideways glance. An in game explosion attracted his attention back to the screen.

I was desperate to know what was happening in Tuna's brain. Mituna after his accident was nothing like Mituna before his accident. The way he spoke now made me hurt. My chest tightened. My heart ached. This was painful to watch.

Did he know he was acting differently? Did he know he wasn't twitching or cursing? Did he know his words made sense?

I looked over and Mr. Captor was gone. Looking out a window I could see the car was gone too.

"Hey, Tulip, Kurloz wanted me to ask you what all the screaming was about earlier," my boyfriend questioned. The question pulled my attention back to him.

"Oh, Terezi and Vriska got into it," I answered, standing up from the sofa, "you guys want pop?"

"Sure," Mituna replied. Kurloz held up two fingers, telling me to bring him one too. I was on my way back from the kitchen with three Mountain Dews when Mituna asked a follow up question.

"Did Terezi punch her?"

"Don't think so," I said, kicking back next to Tuna on the couch after divvying out soda.

"She should have," Kurloz chuckled. His voice sounded like gravel, deep and rumbly. He spoke with a speech impediment too. He'd bit his tongue and severed a nerve or something. Now all his words sounded like he twisted his tongue and said 'I live on a pirate ship.' He didn't talk much before, but he spoke even less now.

I laughed too, pushing my sunglasses up on top of my head.

It clicked all of a sudden, why Mituna was acting this way. Kurloz had been in that car with him. They'd been in the same accident. Of course Kurloz was the reason behind it. Did he know he was he doing this? Did he know his presence was all it took? It took a second to sink in. Mituna was lucid all thanks to Kurloz fucking Makara?

"How you been, Kurloz?" I mumbled, eyeing the can between my fingers as I mulled over my thoughts.

"Okay," he replied, "Meulin is pregnant."

That surprised me.

"Oh! Are you guys happy about it?" I asked, now I turned my gaze sideways but my boyfriend big head was in the way. I leaned foreword to look at him. Kurloz made a hand motion, teetering it back and forth in an "eh?" type gesture.

"He said they're getting a trailer," Mituna interjected. Kurloz didn't mind.

"And they're both going to community college instead of university," he added, "sounds like a good deal to me."

I nodded. "Yeah, nothing wrong with community college."

"I think I'm gonna go too," he spoke like he was offering it to me, licking his lips nervously, "what, with the…." He trailed off. With the brain damage. I knew what he meant.

"Good," I grinned, and took a drink of my soda. "Might have to sign myself up if I don't decide what I wanna do."

"Credits transfer," Tuna shrugged.

An explosion rocked the first person shooter on the screen and Kurloz's half flashed. He'd died. Mituna smirked.

"I gotta go anyway," Kurloz rasped, clearing his throat to make his speech just a tiny bit easier.

"I'll see you later, man," Mituna fist bumped him and Kurloz left for his shoes. He said goodbye and he was out the door a few moments later. We watched him walk down the driveway and over to the Leijon house where Nepeta let him in.

"Wanna play?" My boyfriend asked me, gesturing to the now abandoned player two controller.

"Sure," I replied, taking it from him as he handed it to me.

"One thing about you, Tulip. You're good at every game you pick up," he chatted, throwing another look my way. He was still smiling, smiling at me. I couldn't help but return it.

"I love you," I said fondly, my tone carrying over the warmth I felt for him.

"I love you too, 'T-Tula," he stammered and I could see it in his eyes when he realized what he'd just done. Oh no.

"God damn son of a fucking stupid motherfucking bitch!" He raved, dropping his controller to burry his face in his hands. "God, I'm a worth-th, worth-th, use, thse, Jesus Christ!"

"Mituna! Take a breath buddy!" I asserted.

His face twitched into a snarl. "Lat-Latula, get the fuck out of here!"

"Mituna, what? Why?"

"Becathuse, I, I, I," he stammered, "you shouldn't fucking see- see me like this! Juth, just, juth, go!"

"I," it was my turn to stutter, "Mituna, do you think I honestly care if you stutter? It's fine, really, I couldn't care less."

Suddenly he did a one-eighty. His tone dropped three octaves and his words came faster and clearer. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm-"

"Mituna!" I exclaimed, grasping his face between my hands and forcing him to look me in the eye.

"Mituna, look at me!" I rose my voice and he froze. "Is this why stuff has been so… So weird? Because you're afraid of what I think about you? I don't care, Tuna. I don't care. I love you. I love you more than anything. Please stop pushing me away."

"I'm no-non, not the same per-perso, per, per, fuck, guy!" He argued, his words loud and garbled, and his expression sour.

"I don't care, Mituna!" I said, exasperated, "I don't care if you're the same, or different, or green, or pink, or if you're screaming at me over something stupid!"

I watched his face contort from anger to passive hurt. When he spoke again he was quiet about it.

"I fucth up," he muttered after a long, long silence. He pushed my hands away from him with shaking fingers, and he held my hand awkwardly. "I fucthed up. I'm fucthed up. You muth be so mad at me."

A smile played across my lips and I lost it. I took my free hand and tried in vain to cover my face. I wasn't laughing at him. Okay, I was, but I wasn't laughing at him to be mean.

"What?" He asked, his face scrunching up.

I giggled hysterically a little more before I could answer him.

"I'm still wearing your ring, aren't I?"

My laughter died off and my gaze settled on the union of our hands resting on our laps. He thumbed over the gold band I'd proudly worn on my finger since last summer.

I remembered the gossip that'd gone around the first week of senior year. Everybody thought I was pregnant. I remember my mother telling me I was stupid and it wouldn't last. I remembered Terezi rolling her eyes but still congratulating us. I remembered Mituna's dad giving his son a serious look but he wished us luck anyway.

I remembered sitting in the hospital room with him for days. I remembered the day he came home and I sat with him all night after he couldn't stop shaking. I didn't see my mom or Terezi for five days that week.

"I feelah like I- I- I'm trapped in huh-here, Latula," he confessed, "no-huh, nothing feels different. I juth ca-can't talk. Or move. Or drive."

"I can understand you fine," I assured, rubbing my thumb in slow circles on his hand, "and I'll take you wherever you wanna go."

"Thanks," he managed without stuttering. I could tell he thought I was just saying that.

"It's gonna get easier, Tuna. I know nothing can change this, but you'll get used to it," I sighed, "I know you don't wanna get used to it, but it'll just mean it's getting better."

It could be worse. He could be unable to take care of himself. He could be paralyzed like Rufio's little brother. I was thankful it wasn't worse.

His shoulders were relaxed but his brows were knitted. He still looked sad.

"We should practice this summer, to get your hand writing and stuff back on par. We've still got all summer, I know you could do it," I smiled back at him, leaning forward to kiss the tip of his nose. That did it. He leaned back and looked at me, grinning crookedly.

"Oh-only if you g-give me a smoo, ah, a smoo- ah, a kiss for eh-every letter," he jested, and leaned back my way, our lips colliding in the middle.

A shriek forced us to jump apart. It scared us both more then we wanted to admit. My heart lept. A dog started barking and I knew right away it was Terezi.

"Sh-shit," Mituna stammered.

"C'mon," I mutter, and I pull him with me. We forego our shoes and instead step out on to the house's tiny front porch to see what the commotion was.

Vriska was laying face down In the street with Terezi towering over her. Terezi's cane was planted on Vriska's back like it was some kind of saber. Karkat was standing off to the side awkwardly holding Vriska's prosthetic arm. Pyral was standing nearby, barking, his leash unattended and dragging on the ground.

In one quick movement, Vriska grabbed Terezi by the leg and pulled her over. My sister landed on the ground and suddenly Vriska was on top of her.

"Serket! Don't you dare!" I shouted, but either she ignored me or didn't hear me because she reeled back and sucker punched my sister in the face.

I don't know where Aranea apparated from, but as I sprinted across Mituna's lawn and in to the street, she was coming from somewhere else, approaching just as fast. I reached the feuding pair first. I tore Vriska off Terezi and threw her back, where her sister caught her around the arms. Terezi tried to lunge at her, but I put my hand on her chest and pushed her back down.

"How 'bout you keep that thing on a leash, huh, Serket?" I shouted.

"Oh please!" Aranea shot back, "for a lawyer's daughter, you cause yourself enough problems!"

"Let me go!" Vriska snarled, "Aranea! Let me go!"

"Shut up," the older Serket girl hissed.

"Ladies," Kankri cut in. I didn't see him come out of his house, but he was standing nearby with a hand on his brother's shoulder and he held the leash of Terezi's dog in the other.

"If I might ask, could we cease the shouting and talk about this like civilized people? Parents are arriving home and we would all rather not hear about this later from our caretakers. Besides," he chittered, "some people find loud noises triggering."

"Alright," I huffed, "who started it?"

"She did!" Both of the feuding girls said at once. I rolled my eyes and turned to my sister.

"Spill it," I spat. She couldn't see me glowering at her but she shrunk back away from my tone.

"She hacked my Facebook account and wrote horrible things all over my page," Terezi spit out sourly.

"Yeah, well she stole my roleplay dice!" Vriska interjected, outraged.

"You left Tavros and me out in the woods and neither of us could get back!" Terezi argued.

"You and I walked that trail a hundred times!"

"Before you blew up that bottle rocket and blinded me!"

"I blinded myself too!"

"In one eye!"

"Girls," Kankri intervened, "this is not a blame game. You two have been friends since we all moved in here. Don't you suppose it's a little childish? Now I know with female cycles things can be hard but-"

"Kankri, thut the fuck up, you s-stupid s-son of a bitch," Mituna cut in, and I hadn't even heard him approach.

"Mituna?" He questioned. His eyebrows raised and his jaw went slack. Aranea had a similar reaction. Oh, right. He hadn't gone out of the house much since graduation a month ago.

"Yeah, fuckass," he replied, imitating Karkat, "how about you guyth straight up fucth off."

"Excuse me!" The elder Vantas brother said, astonished, "that sort of language isn't-"

"Kankri!" I growled, "not helping."

He clammed up but he wasn't happy about it.

"If Vriska says she's sorry, Terezi will give back her dice," I offer, and it's my first and final offer.

"Apologize," Aranea hissed at her sister, giving her a hash shove away from her now the younger girl had calmed down.

"Now," Aranea threatened.

"Fine!" Vriska exclaimed, and then, much quieter she said, "sorry."

"We're done here," I concluded.

Karkat hesitantly offered Vriska her arm and she took it back with a dirty look. Aranea slapped her sister upside the head as they turned to leave. Both girls slung insults at each other as the older sibling walked guarded foot steps behind the younger the whole walk home.

Mituna's hand extended to help me off of the ground and I took it, though I didn't lean my weight on him. I helped my sister off the ground next.

I took Pyral back from Kankri and found Terezi's discarded cane, returning them both back to her. My sister's face was swollen and starting to bruise near her temple. On the other side, just under her eye, she had a couple shallow scrapes from where she'd hit the road.

"Not cool, Terezi. Not cool," I told her scornfully.

"I could have handled that," she insisted. She rose a hand to touch her face right after and hissed as soon as her fingers grazed the cuts.

"Sure," I huffed, "let's go get you cleaned up."

"I can clean myself up," she insisted again. I rolled my eyes and took Mituna by the hand.

Kankri followed his younger brother back to the house with us. He sat at my kitchen table as Terezi got up on the counter next to the kitchen sink. I ran warm water over a wash cloth before I handed it to her.

I leaned on the counter near her, watching her gingerly rub the washcloth over her rounded cheeks. She was average height for fourteen, but she still had enough baby fat to look twelve. She'd be fifteen in October. It made me feel old.

Mituna was loitering near the fridge, away from the rest of us and fiddling with his phone.

Karkat parked himself next to Terezi. He looked anxious, too anxious. I wondered what his deal was.

"Do you want me to get you a bandaid or something?" Karkat asked hesitantly.

"I'm blind, not helpless," Terezi retorted.

Oh.

Okay I got it.

She wanted them to be a thing before I'd left, but not anymore.

Karkat drew back. Kankri watched from afar.

"Karkat," Kankri interjected immediately, "father will be home soon."

"Yeah," Karkat replied. He looked relieved his brother had given him a cop out. "Bye Terezi."

"Bye," she spit sourly, and the Vantas brothers left the house, bidding Mituna and I a goodbye as well.

"Are they gone?" My sister asked after the front door shut.

"Yeah," Mituna agreed. She sighed heavily and leaned over the sink, grasping for the handles. She wrung out her wash cloth after letting the water run. The water washing away the tiny flecks of blood that had dripped from her skin.

"What was that about?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

My sister sighed again. "He came over to tell me he kissed Dave Strider and that he was sorry."

Not cool.

I clicked my tongue and went to the medicine cabinet, fishing out the antibiotic ointment and a red band aid. I pushed her hand away and dried her cheek with a paper towel before applying the cream.

"I thought he really liked me. I don't understand why he would do that?" She asked sadly. She sounded like she hoped I'd know the answer. I stuck the band aid to her skin.

"I dunno sissy," It was my turn to sigh, "people do dumb stuff."

"Yeah, TZ. Don't bu-beat yours-self up a-about it," Mituna added.

"You gotta know in your own rad little heart how people should treat you," I proceeded, "don't let anyone offer you any less."

"Thanks," she replied, and she looked like somebody seriously rained on her parade. I patted her on the back and lead Mituna out of the room. She needed some time to figure stuff out.

I sat back on the couch and picked up my game controller. I tossed it to my boyfriend as he sat down and he pressed the play button. I reached back over and paused it again.

"Hold up, babe," I smirked, "I got a question to ask."

"What'th that?" He questioned, shaking his head to move his hair out of his eyes.

"I've been thinking."

"That's dang-dangerous," he laughed, earning him a slug to the arm. He laughed harder and I cracked a smile.

"Seriously, I've been thinking!" I stressed.

"Ah-bout what?" He purred, leaning closer to me. I wrapped my arms around his torso and pulled him close, nosing his cheek and leaning my forehead on his temple.

"Oh, you know," I said, nonchalant, "normal stuff. Gaming, skateboarding, college… Weddings."

"Weddings?" He mocked.

"Yeah," I nodded, "we never sat down and talked about it."

"Wan-ah, Wanna go to Veg-Vegas?"

"Hell yeah!"


	3. Rush In My Veins (VriskaMeenah)

))From: Twerket message: Meet at five at my house, alright? Time stamp:3:16((

I read the text message over and over and I stared out the window, frowning.

Why the glubbin fuck couldn't we of meet at my house?

It was almost five as I slipped my shoes on and yelled to my sister I was leaving. It was three minutes after when I arrived at the Serket Circus house. I beat on the door and waited a few moments for my best friend or her sister to answer their door.

I shifted impatiently from side to side, looking to the west. We still had a good forty five minutes before the movie started, plenty of time. Aranea was always so anal about timing.

Aranea threw open her door in a huff, scowling harshly, but it faded a little when she saw who was on her doorstep.

"Oh, hi, Meenah," she sighed, tucking a piece of her short hair behind her ear.

"That's all I get?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow, "oh, hi, Meenah," I mocked, "bitch, please."

"Yes, well," she replied dryly, "I'm trying to glue my sister back together before my mom gets home."

"Ah, what? She get knocked on her ass this time?" I asked, opening her screen door to let myself in.

"I wish she would have," Aranea rolled her eyes, "I thought Latula was going to eat her."

"Bitch is stronger than she looks," I laughed, thinking back to all those stinging high fives from first period English in our junior year.

Aranea hummed and she led the way to her kitchen where Vriska was leaning over the sink. Her shirt was filthy and her hair was a rat's nest. She looked fine to me, except when she turned to greet me, her left eye was blackened.

"Oh shit! Serket Squared got hit!"

Vriska grinned, "you shouldda seen the other guy."

"I already told her Latula broke it up," Aranea hissed and smacked her sister on the arm, "peas! Face! Now!"

Vriska muttered something and gave her sister a dirty look. She picked up a bag of frozen peas from the sink basin and pressed it to her face, grumbling all the while.

"Where are you guys going?" She asked, minutes later when Aranea went looking for her shoes.

"The movies, you _aren't_ coming!" Aranea growled.

"I don't remember asking you!" Vriska argued back. She turned back to me and smiled.

Right, because there it was.

Vriska had the biggest, most sickening crush on me. I didn't know why. I didn't care to know why. It was weird. It'd been going on about three years now.

"We're gonna go see that Kingfisher movie," I grinned. "Looks like a gore fest."

"That looks stupid," she said plainly.

"Step off, hoe," I shot back, "that shit we saw last time with you was B-A-D too."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. It was hard to get her sea-goat.

I noticed her prosthetic arm was off. It was laying on the counter next to us. She had her black T-shirt rolled up on that side, bearing the arm that once was. It dropped off right before the elbow. She never seemed to let it bother her.

"Mom is gonna be home any minute," Aranea said, returning to the kitchen, "stay in the house, don't unlock the door for any body."

"I'm not four," Vriska narrowed her eyes at her.

"You act like it," the elder sister said, snide.

"At least I live a little, instead of having books shoved so far up my ass I flutter."

"Vriska, I'm not playing games with you!" Aranea shouted.

"Ooooh come oooon," Vriska shrieked, "let me come!"

"Vriska, you're on my last nerve!" Aranea looked like she was going to murder her sister.

Keys unlocked the door coming from the garage. The house only had three residents, and two of them stood in front of me. It could only be Mrs. Serket home from work.

"It's nice to hear my children getting along," she said sarcastically. She had this higher than you there too her, all the way down to her cobalt blue heels.

Aranea's mom's name was Mindfang. I dunno what kind of name that was, Mindfang. It was over dramatic, just like her daughters. Mindfang. What the fuck was it even supposed to mean? I probably shouldn't talk. My mom's name was Condesce.

But anyway, she was tall, tall for a woman anyway and she had a lot of hair, just like her daughters.

"Are you still going to the movies?" She asked, settling her purse down,. She looked up and then did a double take when she saw her youngest. "Vriska, what happened to your eye?"

"Ah, it's no big deal," Vriska tried to brush it off, "it was just Terezi. Same old, same old."

Mrs. Serket narrowed her eyes.

"Neophyte is gonna hang you one of these days," she sighed. Yeah, Latula's mom might too, because that whole house was batshit insane.

"Good bye, _mother_ ," Aranea groaned and made a motion to leave.

"Good bye," she replied, "wait for your sister."

" _What?_ Mom, no!" My best friend whined, looking defeated.

"Mom yes," she dead panned, and there was no arguing with her. Vriska snickered and picked up her arm. She slipped it back into place and fixed her shirt as Aranea hashed it out with their mother. She lost.

We ended up at the movie theater with Vriska without a minute to spare.

I'd only started liking scary movies because they scared the shit out of my sister. The more I watched though, the better they got. I'd been looking foreword to this movie coming out for months. It started out simple enough. A group of basic bitches held up in a cabin by the lake all weekend.

It got scary the first night they stayed. One of the girls disappeared and another said she saw something in the water. It just got worse for them from there.

Aranea was on my right. She spent most of the time hiding behind her hand. Vriska was on my left, because of course she was, and she was engrossed in the film.

She was totally cool with the movie, unlike her sister.. That was, until about halfway though when the killer came out of the lake. She was white knuckled and pale, and her entertained smile was gone.

I knew enough to see she was afraid. Vriska acted tough, but she'd have to get up a lot earlier to fool me. Aranea had a death grip on my right hand, so I figured I'd better even it out.

I offered Vriska my free hand. She took it almost immediately, but she didn't squeeze. She just held my hand. It was too dark in the theater to tell she was blushing.

Her skin was soft. I wondered what kind of moisturizer she used, if she used any at all. Her nails were done up, but I couldn't tell the color in the dark.

Christ, this girl had a lot of hair. It fell in wavy tresses down her shoulders, thick, and black, and.. Pretty. Vriska was so pretty.

She glanced my way and caught me staring.

"You okay?" She whispered.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. I turned back to the movie but I wasn't interested anymore.

We went out to eat after. It was some bar type chain restaurant with twelve different kinds of barbecue sauce and whatever I got was good but I wasn't hungry anymore. Aranea was sitting next to me, blathering on about something in another one of her long winded spiels. I was too busy picking at my chicken to listen.

If I just so happened to glance up, across the table, it always caught Vriska's attention. She'd just smile and look back down at her food and I would too, scowling.

What was going on with me tonight? This was exactly the same as every other night Vriska tagged along. Why did it feel so different?

Aranea drove us back to the cul-de-sac. When she pulled into my driveway, she asked if I wanted to spend the night at her house.

"You scared?" I laughed, and she just sort of giggled and shook her head. Yeah, she defiantly was, she was just too proud to admit it.

"Sure, lemme grab my stuff."

I slid out of the car and into my house. My sister was still up in her room where she'd been when I left. My mom was home now, but she was in her office, still working. I didn't bother saying hello to either of them.

My room was pretty near perfect. I had enough clothes to dress half the city, and you couldn't see my floor most of the time. My walls were ocean blue and my room freshener smelled like the sea.

I tore a bag out of my overstuffed closet and shoved some clean cloths in it for tomorrow. I took my toothbrush and my tooth paste, fed my fish and… hesitated.

I just stood, facing my door, hand on the knob. I knew what was wrong immediately. I whipped out my phone.

))To: Twerket Message: yo, can I axe you somefin? Time stamp:9:04((

))From: Twerket Message: I am literally in the car under you. Time stamp:9:04((

))To: Twerket Message: yeah, yeah, whatev. I can't really say it out loud. Time stamp:9:04((

))From: Twerket Message: Sure. Shoot. Time stamp:9:05((

I paused again.

))From: Twerket Message: Meenah? Time stamp:9:06((

))From: Twerket Message: Did Vriska say something? I'll kill her. Time stamp:9:07((

))To: Twerket Message: Shit! No, Aranea, don't! Time stamp:9:07((

))From: Twerket Message: Don't hm? Okay, Meenah. What's going on? Time stamp:9:08((

I took a deep breath and pushed the hair out of my flushed face. My hands were cold. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

))To: Twerket Message: I think I… Time stamp:9:08((

))To: Twerket Message: Maybe kinda… Time stamp:9:08((

My fingers danced over the send button before I finally closed my eyes and pushed it.

))To: Twerket Message: Got the hots for your sister. Time stamp:9:08((

She didn't respond right away. I stared at the read notification and sighed. That was it, I'd pissed her off. She'd probably never speak to me again, or, worse yet, she'd start lecturing me and it'd never end. My phone pinged with an incoming message.

))From: Twerket Message: Oh. Time stamp:9:10((

))To: Twerket Message: Yeah. Time stamp:9:10((

))From: Twerket Message: Did you still want to spend the night? Time stamp:9:10((

))To: Twerket Message: Yeah. Time stamp:9:10((

))From: Twerket Message: Let's talk about it later then. Hurry up! Time stamp:9:11((

It felt like twenty thousand leagues of pressure fell off of my shoulders.

I reached for the door and left the room. I was smiling when I climbed back in to Aranea's shitty car and she drive us a hundred feet back in to get driveway.

"Took you long enough," Vriska smirked as we bailed out of the car and into the house.

"Hey, when you got as much going as me? It takes time," I snarked back.

"Oh, _please_ ," she drawled, "nobody has more irons in the fire then I do."

"You wanna bet?"

"Vriska, please," Aranea interrupted. "Go up to your room like a good girl, or go harass that poor Nitram boy, or something that doesn't involve us!"

Vriska just laughed at her and disappeared into the house.

Aranea pulled her couch out into a bed and huffed. I threw my bag down and went to her hall closet for her, pulling out a clean sheet and two extra throw blankets. Her air conditioning got chilly sometimes, we'd probably need them.

"Can I brush your hair, Meenah?" Aranea asked as soon as I sit down.

I looked at her, skeptical. "We're eighteen."

"Your _almost_ eighteen, I'm seventeen. Your technically seventeen," she reminds, "but I don't care about that. Can I brush your hair or not?"

Why not? I get back up without further complaint and grab my hairbrush out of my bag. I undo my braids for her and sit back on the bed, my back to her, and hand her my brush over my shoulder.

I didn't really like doing girly things at sleepovers, but Aranea did. I humored her.

"So, anyway, our conversation earlier," she started, both on the topic and at the bottom of my scrunched hair.

"Er, yeah," I agreed, "look, I'm not out to do nasty shit to her and then crush her feelings."

I sighed, " I dunno. I just don't know anymore."

Aranea snorted. "I could care less about _her_ feelings. She's my sister, yes, but that's about where it ends. I'm more worried about _you_."

"What the fuck for?" I asked. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, for one she's mean and vindictive," she didn't sound impressed, "and well, she is a lot younger than you."

"Two years? That's not that big of a gap."

Aranea paused to untangle a piece of my long hair.

"It's more like two and a half years. And she's not at all mature enough for a relationship," she said thoughtfully. I didn't respond.

"I don't mean to discourage you. _I don't care_ , Meenah, I just want you to know what you're getting into," she paused again, either for dramatic effect or because she was unsure if she should continue. "I also don't want to loose my best friend to my sister."

"Aw man, what?" I questioned, turning around to face her, "I ain't Latula. I ain't gonna forget my friends exist just because I got a girlfriend. I swear. We're going to the same university even. And if I do? Well, you're pretty good at telling me shit anyway."

I smirked. She smiled and giggled a little, handing me back my brush. I tossed it on my bag as I got up to shut off the lights. She took her side of the bed and I took mine.

"I didn't know you liked girls," she said dryly.

"Neither did I," I laughed and she laughed a little too.

"Will you paint my nails tomorrow morning?" She asked, sleep starting to grab at her.

"Definitely," I agreed, but I wasn't sleepy at all.

"And will you make pancakes?"

"Damn straight. I'm the best there is at it." I agreed again.

"Can we go shopping? I need a," she yawned, "new book. I finished the other one already."

"Serket, go to sleep!" I exclaimed, hushed and careful not to wake her mom. She didn't say anything else. I was pretty sure she was asleep already.

I don't know how long I lay there, thinking about a girl above who was probably thinking about me. I don't know how long I lay there, my head a hot mess and goldfish swimming in my stomach. It was all I could do not to tear my hair out.

My phone binged and I rolled over, turning the brightness down before I red the text.

))From: Sender Unknown Message: hey Time Stamp: 12:01((

))To: Sender Unknown Message: whos dis? Time Stamp: 12:01((

))From: Sender Unknown Message: :::;) Time Stamp: 12:01((

))From: Sender Unknown Message: Wouldn't you like to know? Time Stamp: 12:01((

I had a pretty good idea who it was from the smiley. Smirking, I powered off my phone and closed my eyes. Serket Junior was not about to jerk my chain. Couldn't be too eager, now could we?

* * *

The formatting was a lot cleaner on ao3, i actually am starting to prefer that to this site, unfortunately.

This is probably the shortest thing I've wrote to date and been okay with it being short. I think there's a lot to be said for budding crushes, but I'm gonna only say right now that I don't like the idea of an 18 year old dating a 15 year old. I think that's a toxic situation. Why did I write this? because its my favorite pairing and I already set the ages in the first two chapters. Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Trade Mistakes (KurlozMeulin)

"Got any twos?"

It took Meulin a couple seconds to register what he sister said before she groaned. "Nepeta, we're playing poker!"

Nepeta giggled and closed her fist, her thumb up and moved it in a clockwise motion in front of her chest. It was the American Sign Language motion for 'Sorry.'

"It's okay," Meulin huffed, grinning and ruffling her younger sister's hair. She spoke a bit louder than needed, but I didn't mind. She was deaf, she couldn't hear herself.

"So wait, how do we play this again?" Nepeta asked, picking up an orange tabby cat that rubbed on her chair. Meulin wasn't looking at her, so she was unable to read her lips.

'Never mind,' I signed to her. I threw my cards down on the table, attracting Meulin's attention.

"Kurloz! You're not supposed to just fold!" Meulin sighed, but then a look of excitement crossed her features, "and you had the best hand too!"

Meulin laid down her cards, and it was a mash of black and red. I didn't even care to see which kinds of matches she had. I had a flush so it didn't matter. Nepeta threw down her cards and laughed, confused, but happy.

I glanced over at the clock.

'I have to leave for just a minute,' I signed, attracting the attention of both Leijon sisters.

Meulin looked confused.

'I thought we were going to look at furniture?' She spoke, eyebrows furrowed.

I twisted my fingers to respond to her. 'I have to check on my brother.'

Meulin's face twisted again, her expression changing back to excitement. 'Can I go?'

'I guess?' I shrugged. 'If you want to.'

She nodded and stood up, going for her purse and shoes. I grunted and stood up, ruffling Nepeta's hair. She didn't mind. She was still fawning over the cat. Meulin booted another cat out of the way of the front door. I slipped on my shoes and followed her out. We strode down her driveway, followed the rounded curve of cul-de-sac three houses down.

My lawn needed mowed. My dad had told a Gamzee to do it but we all knew he wasn't going to.

The front door was unlocked.

"Gamzee," I called though the house, clearing my throat. My voice wasn't the best to be yelling.

I didn't hate it. I can't do anything about it. Freak accidents where you server a major nerve in your tongue happen. It sucks. It makes you talk funny. There's nothing I could do about it.

"My mother fuckin' brother!" Gamzee shouted from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and wondered what exactly I was walking in to.

I didn't bother taking my shoes off as I walked inside.

"Hi Gamzee!" Meulin shouted, and I relayed the message when he returned her hello.

"What are you doing, you jumped up little shit?" I questioned, entering the kitchen.

"Brownies!" He replied, using a wooden spoon to stir a bowl of chocolate batter.

"Miracle Brownies, that is," he grinned. I quirked an eyebrow. Miracle brownies was usually code for weed brownies. And by usually, I mean always. I wasn't too worried about it. Weed wouldn't hurt him. He was a pretty happy kid, wouldn't hurt a fly… as long as he took his medicine.

"Did you take you pill?"

"Course I did, my mother fuckin' bro!" He confirmed, "I'm all kinds of responsible. It's bitchtits man, don't be all up and worried."

I went to the medicine cabinet anyway and checked. Sure enough, his pill was still inside its purple container. I turned around and shook it, attracting his attention.

"Shit," he swore, looking a little sheepish under half lidded eyes. He must have zoned out and forgot or something stupid like that. I brought the pill to him and he swallowed it dry.

Meulin stuck her finger in the brownie batter before Gamzee added the hash oil. I grinned.

Meulin was taller than my brother, but just by a hair, and she wouldn't be for long. He grew like a weed in fertilizer and if he was anything like me, he'd end up around six foot.

"Hey, sis," my brother grinned, offering her the spoon. "We got all kinds of miracles happening today."

My girlfriend read his lips while she accepted the spoon. "How do you figure?"

"You're all up and here," he grinned. Meulin squealed and hugged him. I rolled my eyes. Sure, okay, schmooze my girlfriend.

I couldn't blame him. Meulin was pretty awesome. Not to mention, she paid attention to him where no parent of ours ever had. When I was old enough to babysit Gamzee myself, my dad started leaving us home alone.

It taught me about entertaining myself. I found new hobbies, like hydroponic gardening. Dad tended looked the other way when it come to my weed. That was cool of him, I guess.

"Don't burn the house down, okay?" I asked, nudging my brother.

"You got it."

'Let's go,' I signed to Meulin. She bid my brother goodbye and we left the house.

My car was parked in the driveway. It was a trash heap on wheels, like everybody else's car my age. It ran though, so no complaints there.

"Walmart sound good?" Meulin asked, her voice projecting in the small space. I nodded because I needed my hands to drive. So it wasn't a furniture store, but it was cheap and we were broke.

Walmart was ten minutes away, twelve with lights. Sitting at one of those lights, drumming my fingers on the wheel, I just happened to glance over. We had the windows rolled down since the AC quit, and a breeze blew by with the cars in the opposing lane. It ruffled Meulin's hair just right and the sun shone off her skin. She was looking away from me, smiling and humming. I could hardly tear myself away when the light turned green.

I didn't know what I did to deserve somebody so perfect. (I hoped it wasn't the universe apologizing for the tongue though.) I had to be the luckiest guy on earth.

Then, all of a sudden I realized Something. I had to be the double luckiest guy on earth, because my gorgeous girlfriend was pregnant. It sunk in right there though, on a sunny, late June afternoon in a Walmart parking lot.

I grabbed a cart out of the corral nearby and Meulin pushed.

Walmart had a steady stream of people coming in and out twenty four hours a day. Somebody was always in every aisle. Usually, they got what they needed and left, but not us. We both gawked at the metal rack in front of us, staring at the top level where the furniture was displayed. I glanced down at the boxes containing the parts to put each item together. I tried in vein to match them up with the mislabeled prices.

'I don't know where to start,' Meulin signed, her face scrunched up in confusion.

Walmart had futon couches, particleboard shelving units and entertainment centers that weighed less than a stack of newspapers. They had plenty to choose from. I almost wished they had less.

'Me either,' I signed back.

'This is hard,' she signed and then huffed, 'or,' she signed and then she paused, frowning.

'What?' I asked.

She reached over and took ahold of my hand with the one she didn't use to sign. 'or maybe it's not hard, maybe we just don't know what we're doing.'

I gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand. 'Let's just keep it simple.'

Futons run around three hundred bucks, and a coffee table was another thirty. We decided that was a good start. I grabbed the boxes and threw them in the cart and helped Meulin steer with a hand on the side. That'd clean us out until I sold a bunch more weed and Meulin got her neck paycheck.

We decided to grab a frozen pizza and a two liter of Faygo and head back to my house.

We were all set to have a quiet night at home until I turned the corner into the cul-de-sac. My dad's was car in the driveway. The garage door was open, and the lawn mower was sitting out, and the grass had been cut. I parked on the street and we got out. Meulin got our bags. My old man was standing in the garage, lecturing my brother when we walked up.

"Now, the next time I tell you to mow the lawn, you'll turn that shit music off, wipe the paint off your face and mow it! Are we clear?" He coughed without covering his mouth and fished a his smokes out of his back pocket.

"You look like a girl with that horseshit on anyway," he added as an afterthought.

"Yes sir," my brother droned. He'd probably got the ass chewing of a lifetime.

"Hi, Mr. Makara," Meulin greeted cheerfully.

"Howdy," my dad greeted, but immediately switched gears, brushing her off.

"Kurloz, did you get the dishes done?" He asked, a cigarette pinned between his lips.

"Yes sir," I replied. He didn't speak another word to me.

My brother followed us inside the house while my father stayed outside to smoke.

Once in the kitchen, Meulin read the directions on the pizza box out loud to me and I followed them. We had dinner in twenty minutes. Gamzee ate too, but he left right after. My dad sat back in the living room and watched a western in his armchair. I took Meulin down to my room in the basement.

I lay back on the bed and situated myself. Meulin crawled her way to me once I was comfortable. She laid her head on my arm and sighed, cuddling into my side with her hand she used to sign resting on my chest.

"I'm worried," she said out loud. She was comfortable. She didn't want to move her hands anymore.

"About what?" I asked. She watched carefully to read my lips.

"What if something goes wrong and I can't hear the baby when it cries?"

Her defeated tone made my skin break out in goose bumps. It was so unlike her to get upset by things. Meulin was unshakable, nothing got her down.

"What if my condition that deafened me deafens our kid too?" She followed up, "I know there's no use crying over spilled milk, but it makes me sad Kurloz. I barely remember my mom's voice. I'll never hear our baby."

"We'll teach our kid sign language. I hear they pick it up faster than words," I smile, trying to reassure her.

The smile spreads to her face too. Suddenly she's happy again, nothing is bothering her, just like usual.

"I remember your voice Kurloz. Is that fucked up? I remember you more than my mother?" She asked. Her upbeat tone did not match the beaten down persuasion on her words.

I shake my head no. No, it wasn't fucked up. Then I realized something.

"That was before puberty," I laughed and I know she could feel the vibrations in my chest. She giggled too. She smile widened.

"I think your hormones are getting the best of you," I told her.

"I should get home, get some sleep," she agreed. "I love you, Kurloz."

'I love you too,' I signed, nuzzling the top of her head with my nose.

She hopped off of my bed with more energy than she'd had all day and trotted upstairs. I saw her out, but I kept watching her until she got inside her house. She was less than a hundred feet from me, but I still worried.

"Kurloz, you use protection, don't you?" My old man spoke up from his chair. I thought he was asleep. I froze.

The tv blared gunshots and cows bellowing. This was another, more violent western than what was on before. I'd seen this one before, it was from fifty-seven or something.

I hadn't hold him Meulin was pregnant. Nobody knew but our closest friends. I swallowed thickly.

"Yeah," I agreed, "didn't do us no good though."

It took a second for my words to sink in.

"Well shit," he swore.

"I'm gonna take care of it," I assured before he could even start.

"Your eighteen Kurloz! What the fuck are you gonna do?"

" I got a lease on a trailer starting in August." I cleared my throat but I didn't continue speaking.

"What?" My dad raves, "you think your gonna pay for a house and a kid and a car hocking weed to high schoolers? Does she still work dead end at the goddamn mall?"

"I'm gonna get a real job," I press. He's having none of it.

"Your an idiot Kurloz! A mother fucking moron! Are you brain rotted?" He shouted. All I could do was stand and take it. "Jesus Christ! How stupid can you get?"

He continued screaming, but I couldn't have given less of a shit. I stormed off, grabbing my car keys and the plate of weed brownies. I got in my car and left.

It wasn't like I could call Meulin, she needed to rest, and Mituna had enough of his own problems.

I drove out to the only place I thought I felt good enough to go, the neighborhood playground. I had a lot of fond memories growing up there. It seemed like the most logical, safe place at the time. Nobody would come looking for me there. Sliding into the lot, I threw it in park without even putting my car into a designated spot.

Groaning, I threw my keys into my passenger seat and picked up one of the weed brownies. It was sweet, so sweet it hurt my teeth. I stared out my windshield as I chewed, watching the bugs swarm the dim streetlamp above me.

I knew telling my dad about the pregnancy was gonna be bad, in fact, I knew he would react that way. I don't know what I expected.

My hands still shook from the excitement. I took a deep breath and waited to relax.

I fucked stuff up pretty bad. All my future plans went up in smoke. I wondered if I should fore go college all together. Maybe just go to trade school, be a heating and cooling guy or something. It would pay the bills, buy formula, I guess that's all I needed.

I leaned my head back on the seat and put my hand over my eyes. I don't know why I still held on to the notion this summer might still be fun.

A sudden tapping on my driver's side window pulled be back to the world of the living. I jumped a foot.

Three people were standing next to my car, looming in the low lightly. I couldn't see their faces. My mind rushed. I didn't have anything to defend myself, I was gonna get the shit kicked out of me. I noticed right away they were on the short side. They were probably still kids. I couldn't see their clothing, but I could see that two of them had these things stuck on top of their heads. Wait, were those horns? The tallest person standing in the middle waved at me and that gave it away. I rolled down my window.

"Gamzee?"

"Yeah! Hey bro!" My younger brother greeted. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"What the fuck are you doing out here?" I asked, "We're like, twenty minutes from home, how'd you get out here?"

"We walked," he said as I grabbed up my keys, put them in the ignition and turned on my lights. My brother was smiling, his face painted like a clown and a pair of multicolored, curved horns set on top of his head. A girl stood to his right, wearing a similar pair of horns and a sundress. A boy stood to his left, with suspenders and a bow tie over his T-shirt.

"You've just been wandering around for hours?" I asked.

"We just kinda been up and doin' our own thing," he grinned, "I want you to meet my friends! This is Callie and Caliborn. Guys, this is my big brother."

"It's nice to meet you," the girl, Callie, said in a thick accent. I didn't know where it was from.

"Hello," Caliborn spat with the same accent, a menacing grin set on his face.

"Hi," I muttered, still taken aback. I wasn't aware Gamzee had friends other than Karkat.

I glanced at the clock on my dashboard. It read two-thirty.

"Shit, it's late," I swore.

Gamzee ignored my statement in favor of his own. "Would you tell dad I'm staying the night with Caliborn? His mom said it was alright."

"More like she's not home to protest," Caliborn added. I didn't know about all that but it wasn't like I was in a position to parent anyone.

"Yeah, er," I mumbled, my eyebrows furrowing. "What're you wearing?"

"Mother fuckin' horns! For our troll-sonas! Callie helped me make 'em," he pulled the smiling girl close to him.

"Your.. What?"

"Troll-sona! Like, it's you, but not you. Like a whole different species, all grey skinned and horned. I'll show you later," he insisted.

"Er.. Okay. Look, you guys want a ride back to your buddies house?" I didn't really want my brother running around all night, summer vacation or not.

"That'd be great!" Callie chirped.

Callie ended up in the passenger seat and the boys took up the back seat. They laughed at something on one of their phones while Callie directed me where to go. They didn't live far, just down the road and in a subdivision that was like ours.

"Thanks," she smiled, bailing out. Gamzee gave me a fist bump and waved, and the third little bastard didn't even speak to me. The front door opened signifying they were inside. I was about to back out of the driveway when Callie came dashing back out, her horns off of her head.

"What?" I asked her out my window, the car in reverse but my foot on the break.

"Do you wanna stay the night too?" She asked, "it's just Gamzee said how your dad can be sometimes. I realized you were probably out and about for a reason."

I grinned at her. "Naw, that's alright. Thanks, kid."

I wanted to tell her thanks for keeping my brother out of trouble too, but I didn't. I backed out after that, deciding I was relaxed enough to go back into the fray of my household. I needed to get on my computer, look up job offerings, build a resume, water my plants, bag some more pot. I ate another brownie on the way home for good measure.

I had a lot to get done before August. Might as well start now.

* * *

Some closing thoughts about this fic

I've worked on this a lot longer than I want to admit. I don't know these characters well enough, and some of their information is kind of sparse. I ended up on a few websites looking at observations other people made. ( namely homestckfanfictionhelp on Tumblr. ) I'm still not happy with this fic.

The theme here is responsibility. They made a baby. It makes them both nervous and stressed. Kurloz realizes at the end he has a lot of growing up to do. I watched a family member do the same. You feel so old when you graduate, but two years after I have, I realized I was pretty naive. I wanted these two to reflect that.

I'd like to point out right away that there is nothing significant about their father yelling at them. Some parents are just that way. Their father is the Grand Highblood, who is angry and vengeful. I also took some traits from Gamzee's lusus, who is also quite an angry species according to Jake. He reacted like any parent would when their kid tells them they got a girl pregnant.

This song is Trade Mistakes, by Panic! At The Disco

So, down to the main characters.

Meulin is a really happy person. She rejects bad feelings, in Openbound, she denied the fact she didn't like Meenah when they were alive. Meenah even tried to kill her in canon, but Meulin brushes it off. She rejects bad stuff, but I thought it was unrealistic to have a person that never feels bad.

Kurloz talked way too much for my taste in this fic.I didn't find a lot about him besides he disliked Meenah. I tried to just make him a regular guy. I thought him and Gamzee made the perfect stoners, so Kurloz became the drug dealer.

Gamzee was fun to write. I like his speech patterns. Sober Gamzee might make an appearance later, but I liked in comic drugged Gamzee better.


	5. Little Secrets (DaveKarkat)

"Wait, wait, let me get this straight," he laughed, holding his stomach, "she punched you in the mouth, chipped your tooth, and then got in a fist fight with Vriska?"

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Haha, very funny, Strider. Ha-fucking-ha."

"She couldn't even get in a proper fight with you? She had to leave and clock somebody else? God, Karkat," he wiped a tear from his eye, "you're like the Jeb Bush of fist fights man. The rest of the candidates don't even take you seriously and then you have to go back home to Texas to your dad and brother who were both presidents and deal with the fact you never will."

"That one got away from you, Strider," I remarked, wagging my finger at him, and sat down next to him in the grass.

"Shut up and kiss me again," I smirked and leaned a little closer to him.

"Can't man. Not here anyway," he says, fixing his obnoxious shades. I frowned.

Right. Because Mr. Strider, presiding douchebag and father of the Strider-Lalonde household couldn't handle that not one, not two, but three of his four children were gay. He was probably watching.

We were supposed to be painting Dave's back fence. So far we'd white washed three boards and then he sat down ten minutes ago and we'd done nothing but talk since.

"You're still staying for dinner, right?" He asked, slugging my shoulder.

"My only other option is to go home to Kankri, so, yeah," I agreed.

"Sweet. I think my mom's making soup or something."

"Who makes hot soup in the summer?" I asked but I didn't need him to answer. His mom. His constantly drunk, alcoholic mother made hot food in hot weather.

"Your family's like a roadside attraction, I swear," I huffed. Dave didn't look bothered.

"They say twins are unlucky. They never say who they're unlucky for," he replied and he's not so sarcastic anymore. His joke made me laugh.

"I still can't believe your mom had twins, twice."

He looked very serious, he lowered his shades and with a straight face said: "Believe it dude. This is my ninja clan. This is where we stand."

"You did not just make a Naruto joke," I deadpanned, "you did not."

"Davey! Bring your little friend, dinners on!" His older sister shouts across the yard.

"Comin' Rox," he shouted over his shoulder. He got up first, and like he's some kind of gentleman, he helped me up too.

Dave's dinner table was long because so many people had to sit at it. His father, who he looked nothing like, sits on one end. His mother, who he's the spitting image of, sat at the other end. I end up sandwiched between Dave and his mom. The bleach blonde woman had given up using a cup for her vodka and started drinking straight out of the bottle. His father gave her a dirty look, and she ignored it. They've had some kind of passive aggressive pissing contest going on, according to Dave.

Dave's older sister, Roxy, was across from me. She's had a red solo cup and by the way she was slurring her words, I thought maybe she'd been drinking too. Dave's twin, Rose, was next to her looking miserable as usual. The oldest sibling, Dirk, was on the other side of Dave.

"Not making much headway on that fence," Mr. Strider said with his thick southern accent.

"Perhaps Dave's new literary hero is Tom Sawyer," Rose suggested with a playful smirk.

"Hell yeah, gonna roll down the Mississippi tomorrow," Dave said with a straight face.

"That's Huck Finn," Rose deadpanned. Dave shrugged.

"Dirk, help your brother with the fence after dinner," Mr. Strider commanded, like he was the god damn emperor.

"Can't," Dirk said. His face was stonewall blank. Dirk didn't talk much and he didn't show much emotion. I thought, maybe, somebody could tell what he was feeling if he took those ridiculous sunglasses off. He never did.

"Dirk's going with Jake to the movies, I said he could," Dave's mom answered before his dad can question.

"We talked about this, about being a united force in parenting," Dave's father says scornfully. He points at her with his spoon, looking angry. Dave's mom just smiles and shrugs.

Beside me, Dave sighs. He doesn't look too happy. I hoped he wasn't embarrassed or anything. He'd seen my dad preach to my brother while he lectured back. Nothing was worse than that.

"You won't kiss him in public, do you hear me?" Mr. Strider said, his tone forceful. "I won't have the whole neighborhood talking about my son kissing boys. Do you hear me Dirk?"

"Yeah," Dirk replied, looking down. I felt bad for him. I felt bad for all of these kids actually.

The rest of the dinner conversation was about Rose's violin recital and Roxy's driver's license. The potato soup that was presented at dinner does not taste good. At all. I finished my bowl and didn't dish anymore out. Dave finished his food long before me, and he sat, still, trying not to draw attention to himself. He asked if we could be excused and his mother let us.

We tracked back out to his backyard and picked up our paint rollers. I ran my roller though the paint and started a little further down than him.

"You okay?" I asked, glancing over at him.

"Fine," he said, his shades pushed up to obstruct his face, except for a harsh scowl. He wasn't fine.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked.

"No. Yes. Ugh," he groaned, and then wiped his face with his free hand. He paused a second, crouching down to dip his roller back into the paint. He stood up and continued painting as he spoke.

"His definition of acceptance is going out of his way to torment his kids about their sexualities but not outright stopping them from dating. I hate it."

"We don't care what he thinks, right? Who gives a fuck," I gave him an uneasy smile.

He shrugged and continued painting.

I wondered what kinds of things were said when they didn't have company.

"You wanna go to the movies tomorrow night? Kankri'll drive us," I offered.

"Can't," he replied, "dads making me go to a boxing class tomorrow."

"Boxing?" I repeated, "what the fuck for?"

"He says he's trying to prepare me for real life, whatever that means."

"I hate it when people say that. Real life. What, like this is fake life?" I roll my eyes.

That makes him smile. "Yeah," he agrees.

We talked a while longer, painting the fence all the way. We were about half way done with the first of the three sides when Roxy came out and told us that we could stop.

"Mom told him she was turning on The Lord Of The Rings and dad left," she laughed. "She's gonna pass out twenty minute in, you guys wanna watch it with me and Rosie?"

"Nah, we're gonna walk to the party store," Dave answers for the both of us.

"You need any money, Davey?" She asks. He shook his head no and she pulled him into a hug. She hugged me too before she went back inside. I could smell her and she was defiantly drunk.

The sun was starting to set when we finally left the Lalonde-Strider homestead. We walked in our dirty converse down the side of the road, out of the cul-de-sac and out of the subdivision. We walk out to the main road where we followed that about a half mile down the road to a convince store.

"Alright, alright," Dave chatted, "check this."

He was a lot more chatty now he was away from his family.

"Life's like a boat, gotta keep it afloat, one day I'm sure, I'll make it ashore, I can assure you," he rapped, pronouncing each word incorrectly to force it to rhyme. "Sometimes shits a wash, but sometimes you gotta keep things clean, know what I mean?… That's all I got."

"That's pretty bad," I laughed, "you write raps like a teenager writes mediocre fanfiction. Badly."

He shoved me playfully and I shoved him back.

We made it to the corner store in less time than I thought we would. He grabbed us a couple of cans of Arizona, the green can with the cherry blossoms, and two sleeves of star bursts. We both split the bill and walked home, drinking syrup tea and trying not to choke on candy.

We were back at his house by dark, and his dad was still absent. Dave drug me down to his basement where his two sisters sat near each other on the couch. Both were facing a TV bigger than the hood of a goddamn truck.

"Where's mom?" Dave asked, "The Lord Of The Shitasses are still on, so I haven't been gone that long."

Rose turned to us and put her finger to her lips.

"Keep it down," she spoke quietly, "Roxy's sleeping. I put mom to bed about ten minutes ago."

" 'm not sleepin,' " Roxy mumbled, and she sat up. Dave plopped himself down between his sisters and I took up the far end, on one side of Rose. It was a close fit, this couch wasn't meant for four.

"Yo, move your bony ass over," Dave huffed, shoving his sister into me, and by extension, my hips into the armrest.

"We have the same ass, and it's not bony," Rose retorted.

"Quit wriggling, Strider," I hissed.

"The state of this basement living room is sad. This is some marvelous out of order bull shit, it's like a cluster fuck of seagulls all after the same groady ass french fry. Like the spandex store had a sale and all the mother fucking secret identitys converged on it," he rambled.

"Strider!" I warned, "knock it off, you dim-witted, weasel faced lunatic."

He ignored me. "This is all discombobuled and not right. Rap off for who gets off the couch."

"Dave," Rose deadpanned. She pointed to their elder sibling. She'd fallen asleep again during his fucking sermon of speech.

"Rap. Off," he demanded. His sister rolled her eyes.

What flew from her mouth next made my jaw drop.

"This is going to end like every argument does, with you kissing my ass and begging me to stop. I'm on top, you insufferable prick. Hold on, I'll find you a bucket to kick."

Dave looked downright offended. "Whoa, whoa, hold up, you got that first part from Jenna god damn Marbles."

"She's an Internet sensation."

Dave smirked. I couldn't see behind his sunglasses, but I could pretty well tell he had something good up his sleeve.

"This is a federal fucking issue, you're gonna need a tissue. They're gonna have to reissue all your common sense, get off the fence, girl, your words make me wanna hurl."

"Roxy says quiet," the older girl muttered though the couch cushion.

With their rap off prematurely ended, the younger Strider twins exchanged looks. Rose had known they were going to wake Roxy. Sighing, she got up, relinquishing hold of her spot on the couch and by extension, the TV. As soon as she left, Dave changed the movie to some action flick that he liked and had seen a hundred times.

When he sat back down, he sat closer to me.

I looked away because I didn't want him to see the heat rising to my cheeks. Then it occurred to me he could probably see it anyway. He was sitting so close to me, I could feel the heat radiate off of him.

He was taller than me, by a good four inches, so I had to look up when I turned my attention to him. He smiled at me from behind those ridiculous shades. I found myself scowling, reaching over, and pushing them on top of his head.

"I didn't know you had eyes," I deadpanned.

He didn't say anything. For once in his whole life, he didn't say anything.

I felt his fingertips graze my hand, hesitantly, and I found myself lacing fingers with him.

Strider wasn't somebody you go to for a lot of reassurance or physical contact. He didn't even like to brush elbows in the halls at school. He was still smiling and still holding my hand and I thought for a moment that I'd never seen somebody so happy.

Then, like a shot to the heart, I thought about Terezi. I felt bad, for doing whatever confusing thing I'd done to her. I never knew if I wanted to be more than friends with her. I guessed I should have figured that out before I started seeing Dave. I didn't want to think about how I'd completely fucking botched that entire relationship. She probably never wanted to speak to me again and my tongue went to touch my chipped tooth, as if to remind me.

"Are you okay?" Dave whispered, leaning in close to me.

He was right there, right fucking there.

"Strider?"

"Hmm?"

"Kiss me."

And he did.

He tasted like fruit from the starburst, and vaguely like blistex Chapstick. His lips were wet and warm and his whole body was soft as we sort of slumped into each other. Kissing Dave felt like coming home. He didn't make the guilt I felt go away, but a million other feelings rushed into my chest and all of them were good.

When he pulled away, he pulled his shades back down over his eyes. We were both panting slightly, out of breath because neither of us knew how to kiss and breathe at the same time. His lips mashed the corner of my mouth, and my head jerked to steal another kiss.

Behind him, Roxy coughed, and then she gagged. Dave sprung off of me in an instant, dashing to the nearby laundry room. Roxy sat up, still coughing and covering her mouth. Dave returned with a bucket just in time.

Roxy retched, and threw up. She groaned, brushing her hair back to keep it out of the way.

"Fuck," she said, spitting into the bucket before she gagged again, throwing up a second time.

"You okay, Rox?" Dave asked, looming over her.

"Don't tell dad, Davey, please," she begged, looking up at him with watering eyes.

"I won't," he assured. He went upstairs for a moment, and returned with a bring pink tie for Roxy's hair.

I always thought the older Strider sister could hold her liquor. She was sort of known for being the neighborhood drunk. Dave pulled her hair back for her and wrapped the elastic around it.

"I gotta quit," she muttered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, "I can't do this anymore."

Dave didn't reply.

She coughed again and put the bucket down. She put her head in her hands and the room was quiet.

It was time for me to go, I decided. This was getting awkward. I stood up.

"I'm gonna go," I said. Dave looked over at me, he didn't look very happy.

"I'll text you," I said and he nodded.

I saw myself out.

Groaning, I unlocked my door, and Kankri greeted me from the living room. I told him to shove it, ignored my dad and went up to my room. I threw myself down on my bed and scooped my pet hermit crab out of his cage next to my bed. I let him crawl over my hands and arms. It'd taken me forever to get him comfortable enough not to hide when I held him.

Terezi always liked him, I'd let her hold him a few times too. I opened my phone and, before I chickened out, sent her a text message.

To: Pyrope Message: hey Timestamp: 8:46

The message read delivered. Seconds later a read notification popped up, meaning her phone had read the message aloud to her. I waited and waited, but she never replied.

I sighed and decided to text Dave.

))To: Strider Message: Hows your sister? Timestamp: 8:50((

))From: Strider Message: better. I got her to go back to sleep. Timestamp: 8:50((

))From: Strider Message: sorry about all that. Timestamp: 8:51((

))To: Strider Message: it's fine. We can have sloppy make outs anytime. Timestamp: 8:51((

))From: Strider Message: yeah. Hey, you wanna watch a movie with me Timestamp:8:51((

))To: Strider Message: I just left Timestamp: 8:52((

))From: Strider Message: no, man. Like, online. We'll both watch the same movie, and, like, text each other during. Timestamp: 8:52((

I smiled, and drew my legs up under me. I snatched my laptop up from the floor and turned it on.

))To: Strider Message: 50 first dates? Timestamp: 8:53((

))From: Strider Message: oh my god, you've got to be kidding me Timestamp: 8:53((

))To: Strider Message: like your taste in movies is any better Timestamp: 8:54((

))From: Strider Message: whatever fine Timestamp: 8:54((

I pulled up the website I usually pirated movies from and pulled up Fifty First Dates. We watched all ninety nine minutes of Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore struggling to make it work.

I got my mind off of everything for a while, it was just me and Dave and the movie.

* * *

-throws Davekat in and slams the door- ITS CANON, FITE ME

Check my profile for updates! Next up is an Aradia chapter, an alpha kid friendship chapter, and then a Rufio/Horuss chapter


	6. Washington Women (Aradia & Damara)

My computer screen glowed in the darkness of my bedroom. I had the lights off, but enough light flooded under the shade to shed light on the book in my lap. I'd been seated on my bed since I'd got up this morning. I'd eaten a granola bar and plopped down with four new books my mom had brought me home and I didn't intend to leave. I had my laptop out, listening to a paranormal webcast. My phone binged every once and a while with a text message.

I was having an awesome Wednesday, as far as Wednesdays went.

It was just after three, and I'd just started when my door opened abruptly. My older sister stood in the doorway, flooding my room with sunlight.

" _Are you a ghost? It's so dark in here_ ," Damara spoke in Japanese.

"What do you want?" I huffed in English.

"Do me a favor?" she asked, but it sounded more like a command. Smirking, she pulled a twenty out of her bra and held it out to me.

"Go over to Kurloz Makara's house, I already texted him what I wanted."

I made a disgusted face at her. "I'm not going to get your weed."

"Please? Come on, for your big sister! You just have to walk across the street with it," she urged.

I didn't reply, only glared at her with disdain, holding up my new book like it was evidence. No.

"You won't get in trouble, I promise. Hey, you can keep the leftover cash too." She was just trying to butter me up. I huffed.

"Why can't you go get it yourself?" I petitioned.

"Because Rufioh Nitram is over to Horuss Zahhak's and I'm not going anywhere they can see me."

A smirk played across my lips as hers fell.

"Okay, sure," I agreed, "But you gotta drive me, Tavros and Sollux to Major Hill."

"Major Hill? Why the fuck would you-Okay," she grinned, sort of sickly, and then in Japanese she said; " _Sure_."

"I'll be right back."

I slung on some nicer clothes than the pajamas I'd been wearing and slipped on a pair of sandals.

Kurloz Makara was home, or at least his car was in the driveway as I walked over. I knocked on his front door. Nobody came, so I knocked again. Moments later, it swung open and all six foot two of Kurloz stood in the purple painted frame. He towered over me by at least a eight inches.

He cocked an eyebrow, but didn't speak.

"I'm here for Damara?" I asked, looking up at him.

He smiled, his expression brightening.

"Alright," he replied, his words a little slurred. He waved me in to his house and motioned to shut the door behind me. He disappeared down a stairway that I assumed went to his basement as I stood awkwardly near the door. When he came back, he had a clear plastic bag of weed in one hand and a fist full of ones in the other.

"Twelve," he spoke, and I handed him the twenty. I pocketed my cash and Damara's weed and left.

In the eight minutes I'd been inside the Makara house, a miniature football team had assembled in the Zahhak's front yard. There was Rufio, sure enough, playing on the same team as his boyfriend. On the opposing side was Horuss's brother, Equius, and Nepeta Leijon. Equius could probably take them both by himself, the kid was huge.

I let myself back into my own home. I threw Damara her bag as I stalked back into the darkness of my room.

I picked my phone up off of my bed, and immediately I called my step dad. Calling my mom at work was out of the question, but my step dad always answered. Diamonds Droog was a super cool guy.

" 'Ello? Who the hell's this?" My step father answered in his thick Brooklyn accent.

"Hi dad!" I chirped.

"Aradia! How you doin' sweety?" He was smiling, I could hear it.

"Great dad! Hey, I just wanted to call and ask if Damara could take my friends and I out? They asked their parents and everything."

He made a noise like he was deep in thought and I heard some papers shuffling around on his end. "Sure, but it's a weeknight. Can't be stayin' up all night waiten' for you girls."

"It's summer!" I reminded him. Something shuffled around again on his end.

"Alright, alright. You got your house keys?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Pepper spray?"

"Yup."

"Atta girl!" He said, content with my answer. "Tell your sister I said no funny business."

"Bye dad," I grinned, ending the call. I opened up my text messages and made a group message.

))To: Sollux, Tavros Message: Guys, I got us a ride! It's on tonight. Time stamp: 3:45((

))From: Tavros CC: Sollux Message: uHH, ARADIA, DO WE HAVE TO GO TONIGHT Timestamp: 3:45((

))From: Tavros CC: Sollux Message: Sorry, caps lock. Timestamp: 3:46((

))To: Tavros, Sollux Message: You don't have to go if you don't want to Timestamp: 3:46((

))From: Tavros CC: Sollux Message: It's not that.. Timestamp: 3:46((

))From: Sollux CC: Tavros Message: He's just being a baby, AA. He wants 2 go. Time stamp: 3:46((

))From: Tavros CC: Sollux Message: I'm not being a baby. Not really. I don't think. Timestamp:3:47((

))From: Sollux CC: Tavros Message: Yeah, yeah whatever. Quit pissing and moaning, that's all you ever do. Timestamp:3:47((

))To: Tavros, Sollux Message: okay, quit griping. 6 pm! Timestamp: 3:48((

))From: Sollux CC: Tavros Message: Whatever Timestamp: 3:48((

))From: Tavros CC: Sollux Message: Okay Timestamp:3:49((

I locked my phone and huffed. Sollux was in one of his moods and Tavros was a fraidy-cat, per usual. This was gonna be an uphill fight with Damara too. Even if she had agreed, she'd hassle me the entire time.

"Damara!" I called through the house, "We're leaving at six!"

She didn't respond, but I could hear her lighter click.

Sighing, I thought I might as well get my stuff around. I got back up off my bed and strode to my closet where I pulled out backpack and a plastic storage bin of equipment.

My paranormal investigation kit consisted of six flashlights, a first aid kit, and my holy grail, an EMF meter. I'd gotten it for Christmas last year. I'd only used it four times, and three of them had been in my own basement. No ghosts there, unfortunately.

I set to packing my bag, and then I resumed my archeology studies until five.

Sollux graced my doorstep around ten minutes to. Rufioh Nitram's truck slid into our driveway at six. He'd gone home and brought Tavros and his wheel chair back with him.

"Hi, Aradia, hi, Sollux," Tavros grinned. He raised a hand to wave at us as his brother pushed him up our inclined driveway.

Sollux looked sour, his hands shoved in his pockets. He didn't reply.

"Hey," I grinned back.

Tavros locked his wheels and twisted around to look at his brother, "Thanks, Rufioh."

"No problem," he smiled, and then looked up to Sollux and I, greeting us both.

"Say, Doll, where's your sister? Just got a question for her," he continued.

"Right here," Damara spoke for me, smiling as she stepped out of the front door. "Hi, Rufioh."

My sister walked up beside me, clasped me on the shoulder and pulled me close to her. Why I don't know. We made it a point not to touch each other.

She'd changed her clothes, from jeans to a too short skirt. She'd also sprayed perfume to try to cover up the smell of weed in her hair.

"Where are you all headed?" Rufioh asked, like he wasn't sure if he should leave Tavros.

"Howdy folks!"

The collection of people in my driveway groaned collectively, everybody except for Damara. Cronus Ampora strode up my driveway like he owned it. With his leather jacket on and his hair slicked back, he looked like he was born in the wrong century.

"The fifties called, they want their wig back," Sollux shot.

"Cool your jets, Captor. I'm coming with you guys," he smirked, "Ain't that a bite? For you anyway."

"Damara!" I exclaimed, looking up at her, horrified. She invited him of all people?

" _What_?" She asked in Japanese.

"You know what!" I shot back.

" _What? I don't understand. I don't speak English,_ " she said, like she was genuinely confused. She pulled this on dad sometimes because he didn't speak or understand the language. I groaned.

" _Damara, I speak Japanese too!_ " I retorted, unhappy. I didn't want him to come. My sister just laughed a little and brushed me off.

"Hi, uh, Cronus," Rufioh grinned awkwardly, trying to be civil.

"Hey, Chief," Cronus returned, "hope you don't mind. I'm escorting the lady and the kiddies tonight."

It was pretty clear Damara was just using Cronus to make Rufioh jealous. Everybody could see that. Even Rufioh.

"Why would I mind?" Rufioh asked. Damara's face fell. Cronus didn't reply.

"Be safe, okay?" The older Nitram brother requested, and then got back in his truck.

We all piled in to Damara's car, and Rufioh backed out, letting us do the same.

Damara let Cronus sit in the front seat, my seat, so my friends and I sat in the back. The car was filthy, as usual. Fast food bags littered the floor with papers left over from before graduation. It smelled like weed, Big Macs and Cronus's cologne, which was new. It was not an improvement.

The entire, cramped ride was awkward and headache inducing.

Major Hill was a country club that had been built in the sixties and abandoned in the nineties. The lawn was overgrown. The pool had long since been drained, either by cracks or evaporation. It had a grand ball room, and most of the equipment was still there, if it hadn't been stolen already. It'd been sitting empty for nearly twenty years, so long anyone had given up trying to sell the property. No fence had been put up though, so our party of five coasted up the driveway.

Sollux bailed out of the car first, and together, we helped Tavros into his wheelchair. Damara stood with Cronus, leaning on the car and watching.

"What exactly did you want to come here for?" Damara asked, cocking an eyebrows as I pulled my bag out of the trunk.

"We're going ghost hunting, duh," I deadpanned, handing Tavros and Sollux each two flashlights.

"In there? Pft!" She laughed, "you guys aren't going in there. It'll fall down on your heads!"

"It will not," I scoffed, shooting her a dissatisfied glare.

"What do you think is even in there?" My sister demanded.

"You know why this place shut down, don't you?" I asked dryly, putting a hand on my hip. "The owner was murdered here. Strange things started happening here right after."

"Only you would know that," my sister muttered, narrowing her eyes. Then, in Japanese she spat; " _you're fucking crazy._ "

" _Thank you,_ " I replied, smiling, " _have fun sitting in the dark outside a haunted house._ "

"I'm not scared," she insisted. Her mouth was pulled into a tight line. It was getting dark. I was calling her bluff.

"I know," I chirped, "see you later."

Then I turned around and went for the front door, Sollux and Tavros following me. I was walking slow, waiting for Tavros, but also waiting for Damara. My party of three had just gotten inside the door when I heard the click of Damara's shoes following us.

"Come on, Cronus," she muttered sourly, "we gotta watch the kids."

"Whatever," he dismissed. He followed her, placing an unlit cigarette in his mouth.

"We usually split up to be more effective," I instructed, as team leader, "Just as planned. Tavros is taking the ballroom and the employee break room. Sollux is taking the exercise room and the kitchen, and I'm going to the pool room and the golf shed."

"What about us?" Damara huffed, crossing her arms.

I shrugged, "We meet back here at ten."

And then the three of us ghost hunters parted ways. It was just my luck the teenagers decided to follow me. I rolled my eyes as I flipped on my flashlight, lighting the hallway that was labeled with a faded pool sign.

" _So what's this about? Why him?_ " I asked, stepping around a fallen ceiling tile.

" _What of it?_ " Damara shot back, " _why not him?_ "

I shrugged again.

"What are you guys yammering about?" Cronus asked from the back of the pack.

"Don't worry about it," Damara waved him off, but then continued in Japanese. " _Rufio deserves to see I've moved on. He has. Cronus is lonely, I am lonely. I'm doing this shit for all of us._ "

"I definitely heard my name that time," Cronus smirked. "No need to fight over me."

Damara glared daggers at him.

It seemed to me that no matter what my sister said, she deeply care about her ex-boyfriend. I still didn't know if she was telling me the truth or not about the whole Cronus thing.

The pool room was gray and drab. At one point, the walls of the room might have been blue, but they'd long since faded. The cement in the pool was cracked, both fault and hairline. The paint chipped off of it like it was going out of fashion. The ceiling was glass, the whole thing, though one side was covered in thick vines. The sky was dark now, the sun had gone down.

What attracted my attention was on the far side of the room.

The entirety of the far wall was covered in graffiti. Blues, purples, and yellows decorated the wood paneling. In the dead center, in red, was a large circle with a star in the middle, pointing down. That was a pentagram if I'd ever seen one.

Under it was a ram's skull, pale white with wide, twisting horns. Dried, rotten flowers shoved into its eye holes.

Before my sister could protest I dashed up to it.

I whipped my EMF out of my bag and turned it on. I was so excited my fingers missed the button. I knew I was grinning and my fingers felt like they were vibrating. A real live satanic altar! This was the most pleasant surprise I'd ever been so lucky to happen upon.

"Aradia!" My sister exclaimed, "I don't think you should-"

"Ain't she gonna get like cursed or something?" Cronus cut her off.

"Shut up!" She retorted and crossed the room too.

"What is that?" Damara asked, her eyes on the meter.

"An EMF. It measures fluctuations in electromagnetic fields," I replied. I waved it over the wall, around and behind me, slowly making my way to the skull.

"What?" My sister scoffed, "it measures ghosts?"

"No, it measures the disturbances they cause."

Suddenly it went off in my hand, a shrill scream omitting from the device. I'd froze over the skull, my eyes wide.

"What's it doing?" Cronus shouted over the EMF. Damara covered her ears.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" My words tripped on themselves on their way out of my mouth as I tore my phone out of my pocket and flipped the EMF off. "I'm gonna make contact!"

"Aradia?" Damara sounded afraid now, but I didn't have time for her right now.

"Shhhh!" I hushed, and then flipped the voice recorder app on my phone.

It was silent in the room, and dark except for what little my flashlight lit.

This place was eerie. My skin felt like a million pins pricked under it. I drew in a deep, steady breath.

"Is there anybody here with us?" I asked aloud.

The room was quiet.

"What's your name?" I tried again.

Nothing.

"If you have something to say, you can use my energy," I assured the mute room, "did you die here? Is something preventing you from moving on?"

Still nothing.

I flipped on the EMF again and waved it around the skull. It didn't make any noise and the gauge in the center stated pretty stable. Sighing, I shut it off again and pulled my phone back out.

"Aradia, did you like, catch it?" Damara quizzed, rubbing her arms like she was cold. Her skin was rolling with goose bumps. I thought maybe Cronus had swallowed his cigarette.

"No, nothing like that," I sighed again, "it's gone, whatever it was. I've got the playback though."

"Play it," Cronus urged.

We both looked at him surprised. He shrugged and asked me again to play it.

I hit the button on my phone.

"Is there anybody here with us?" My voice sprung back at me.

The audio was silent until my voice came over it again.

"What's your name?"

The audio was silent again.

"If you have something to say, you can use my energy. Did you die here? Is something preventing you from moving on?"

I kept listening, because it was a good policy to keep going until it ran out to prevent missing anything. I watched, five seconds became four, four became three, three became-

"Yes."

It was my turn to get goose bumps. I shivered as the track stopped.

"D-did it just?" Damara shook. I nodded.

"Let's get out of here," she pushed.

"No way! I want to-"

But I didn't get to finish my sentence. A scream split though the air, louder than my EMF could ever hope to be.

"Sollux!"

I shoved my phone into my pants pocket and sprinted out of the room. Cronus and my sister were right behind me as we cleared the hallway and the front lobby.

"Sollux?" I called to the empty room.

"Here," he groaned, knocking on the wood door from a nearby closed closet. Quickly, I opened the door to find him crumpled on the floor.

"Sollux! What happened?" I demanded. He groaned again and got up off of the floor, dusting himself off.

"I wath leaving the kitchen when that asshole thoved me in the closet and sthut the door!" He shouted, jabbing his finger in to Cronus's chest.

"Hey! Watch it, Captor!" Cronus argued back, "I was with the girls the whole time!"

"You lier! You and your flippy hair have been sthanding in the kitchen door frame all night!"

"Sollux, he's been with us all night," I put my hand on his shoulder and pulled him my way, away from Cronus. His face fell.

"What?"

"G-guys," Tavros cut in, wheeling his chair out from another hallway. His face was pale.

"I, I, uh, don't think we're alone here."

"It's probably just somebody punking us," Cronus tried to laugh it off, "there's no way it's-"

Damara called it.

The ceiling caved in down the hallway, where Tavros had just come from. It creaked loudly before it came crashing down in a dusty cloud of dirt and drywall. Tavros wheeled further away from it in a hurry.

All five of us stared at it for a moment, jaws dropped and eyes wide.

"I think it's time to go," my sister said hurriedly.

"Yup, time to go," I agreed.

And like a bunch of sissies we left Major hill in a great big hurry. Cronus was the first out the door. Damara had her keys in her hand and the car unlocked before she even cleared the threshold. Sollux lifted Tavros out of his chair without help, and I took the hint to put it in the trunk with my bag.

My sister hit the gas before my door was even shut.

None of us looked back.

It was eleven thirty when we rolled back into the cul-de-sac. We'd stayed longer than we should've at Major Hill. That was evident because Mituna Captor was standing in my driveway when we arrived. He looked especially sour as we all got out of the car.

"It's ab-about time you show-showed up you li-little bastard," Mituna snarled, glaring at his brother though his mop of hair.

"Shove it, MT," Sollux spit, "I got a migraine."

"You-You've always got a mi-mmm, a headache. I've been wha-waiting for you for a-an hour."

"Better waiting on him than your motor skills," Cronus spat, smirking and popping the collar on his leather jacket.

Mituna snarled, and twitched, hard. I thought they were going to get in a knock down drag out fight right there in my driveway until the door on the Ampora's house opened.

"Hey, Cro!" My next door neighbor, Eridan, shouted from his porch, "dad says to get your ass in the house."

"Shut up, Eridan," Cronus growled.

"Dad says you're gettin' grounded."

It was Mituna's turn to smirk. Sollux snickered.

"Eridan!" His father shouted, "get back in here! Quit yellin' over the whole god damn neighborhood!"

Dualscar Ampora appeared in the doorway of his house, yanked his younger son back in by the collar. He pointed a finger at his oldest son and yanked it back, his thumb jutted out behind him. Cronus slouched, shoved his hands in his pockets and walked home across the lawn.

Mituna took Sollux home, or Sollux took Mituna home. With the way Mituna stumbled constantly it was hard to tell. Either way, they slung insults at each other the whole walk.

Tavros said goodbye and wheeled himself over to the Zahhak's house. Rufioh's truck was still parked in the driveway, so I figured they must have waited for him.

"That was really fun, Damara," I told her, now we were alone, "Thanks."

She laughed a little. " _You thought getting the shit scared out of us was fun?_ "

"You know, I think I agree," she grinned.

I grinned back up at her. The fireflies were out in our neighborhood, and it was mostly quiet now.

"Are you gonna stay up all night?" She asked.

"Probably," I answered.

She rolled her eyes in sort of a playful way. "Wake me up in a couple hours. I'm gonna prank the shit out of the fish bitch. Her graduation party is tomorrow."

"Okay."

We went inside after that. Our step-dad had waited up for us.

* * *

This fic now has its own playlist! Check my profile for it.

I promise Writercookie, your Rosemary chapter is coming next! I had to upload this one first for it to be in chronological order!

So anywho, Observations.

Damara! I didn't make her all depressed over Rufioh, because in openbound she wasn't. They have a sort of respect I guess? Shes actively trying to move on I think, but she also wasn't above pranking him (stealing his lusus?). She's also all kinds of bat shit crazy and I wasn't fucking with that. I will in her next chapter. The crazy sexual shit drives me up the wall. Some scouring says that it wasn't the game or Rufioh/Horuss/Meenah that drove her nuts, she was just sort of going nuts anyway? Whatever.

Aradia! My favorite little creep! People usually characterize her "ghost/aradiabot" side, but after I saw how happy she was godtier, I couldn't do that to her. Godtier Aradia smiles a lot! She's a caretaker (maid) for the afterlife and she likes her job. She's also still super creepy. She wants to see the universe fall apart, she used to like to dig up dead things, she uses a ouija for a fetch modus for gods sakes. She was also the one who withheld the truth (some people say manipulated) to get Sollux to code Sgrub. I didn't think she was above abusing favors to get what she wants.

She used to be dead Sollux used to hear the voices of the dead, so why not ghost hunters? I added Tavros because Team Charge reasons. I threw Cronus in here as an afterthought. At first i tried to brush him off, but Cronus doesn't brush off easily.


	7. Let Us Be In Love (RoseKanaya)

Before I get any further, I went back and made some edits to the MeenahVriska chapter. I changed Meenah's age, and i also fixed a few spelling/autocorrect errors. Fun fact, I write all my stuff on an Ipad instead of a computer, and the computer doesn't always pick it up when I write "condense" instead of "Condesce." Also, I edit these at like 1-2 am.

So, RoseMary! Have a couple if almost fourteen/fifteen year olds figuring it out, and falling in love for the first time.

* * *

"Rose, what about this one?"

I stepped out of the dressing room with a pink knit pencil skirt on. It went well with the white shirt I had on, but I had an even better blouse at home to pair with it.

"It looks excellent on you," she grinned, looking up from her new book, "Simply the finest forever twenty one has to offer."

"Thank you," I grinned back, blushing just a bit. "I think this is the last one."

I glanced back at the mountain of clothes I'd brought in to the dressing room with me. Yes, it definitely was.

"Take your time," she urged, looking back down to her book. I turned back to the fitting room and shed the skirt, sliding my high waisted shorts back on and tucking in my shirt. I grabbed all fifteen of my purchases from the the keep pile.

"Your sister texted you while you were trying on clothes," Rose informed me, handing me back my phone.

"What did it say?" I inquired, shoving it into my purse.

"She's getting her ear pierced."

Rose walked with me to the checkout where I presented my mother's credit card, and she carried one of my bags with her when we left the store.

My sister was still seated in the chair at when we approached. She had a mirror in her hand, admiring a gold stud she'd just put through her cartilage. It matched nicely with the other seven on her other ear, the three though her eyebrows and one in her bottom lip.

When she spotted us, she made a face. "Kanaya, is that my shirt?"

"I will give it back," I smiled sheepishly. My sister rolled her eyes.

"Are you two finished? I wanted to stop and see Kankri before we left," Porrim spoke, jumping up from the chair.

"Porrim, I fear that any more piercings will be detrimental to my health," I informed her, my tone a bit teasing.

My sister cocked an eyebrow, "what?"

"It's a good thing the weather is fair today," I said, nonchalant, but with a smirk.

"Kanaya, what are you talking about?"

"It's just that with so much metal, I fear you'd be nothing more than a glorified lightning rod," I giggled. Rose smirked.

Porrim rolled her eyes again and heaved a huge sigh.

"Try to keep up with the snarky horse shit," Rose suggested, wiggling her eyebrows.

"I'm never taking you two shopping again," my sister deadpanned. She walked away briskly, maybe hoping to lose us. Unfortunately for her, we knew where Kankri worked. We found her in the food court Taco Bell, talking to him as line built up behind her.

"Kanny, you already said you would!" My sister exclaimed,

"I'm not having this conversation, Porrim! I am not going to Meenah's graduation party and that's final. She didn't come to mine. I understand you want me to accompany you, but I heard from Latula there was going to be all sorts of trouble causing and carousing there," Kankri replied, frustrated, and folded his arms. "And would you please stop calling me that?"

"Oh my god, it's a party. Her whole family is going to be there, how much trouble can we get in to?"

"I don't even like Meenah that much!" Kankri argued back.

"Oh. Gosh," he said after realizing what he'd said, "look what you've gone and made me do. I'm not saying I dislike her. Meenah has many strong points as a person. Not to say that you do not also, Porrim. But-"

"Kankri, enough," my sister huffed, crossing her arms.

"I apologize, but I have customers to tend to. I'll text you later," Kankri expressed.

Porrim rolled her eyes and opened her purse, drawing out a dollar and slapping it on the counter. "Diet Pepsi, please."

Kankri narrowed his eyes at her and took her money with enough malice to burn a city. He trust her pop into her grasp and 'hmp'ed. Porrim took a sip off the straw with a satisfied smile, ignoring the angry people behind her.

"Come get me at six," she said sweetly and walked off before he could get another word in.

We left the mall and Porrim drove us home. Rose had a book to keep her distracted the entire ride, and then some. She closed it only when we strode into my house with our bags. I put mine down on the floor of my room and closed the door. Rose was a messy person, but I still didn't want her to see the hapless disarray of my room.

When I returned downstairs, Porrim was doing laundry and Rose was seated on my couch, waiting for me.

"What would you like to do now?" I asked.

"You mentioned earlier you wanted to do some gardening this weekend. I was hoping you'd like to work with your plants while I worked on this book?" She offered, the book still in her hands. I smiled.

"With lemonade?" I countered.

"You read my mind."

We both went to the kitchen and assisted each other with making the drink. Rose cut the lemons while I stirred the mix into a pitcher.

Glasses in hand, together we ventured out into my back yard. Rose to up residence in a chair on my deck while I went to the garage to fetch my gloves, watering can and the plants. Yesterday I had filled all of my pots with dirt, and I'd been germinating seeds since the middle of May.

I decided to start on the largest pot first. Carefully, I dug a hole in the center of it and shook the young stalk out of its container. I didn't want to damage the root system, so I moistened it to loosen it. These plants would grow up to be geraniums. In fact, a few of them even had little red buds.

I watered my plants after pressing them into the soil. It would only be a few weeks and they'd be well rooted, full, and flowering.

I had another few pots to go, and I had quite a few other seedlings that needed a spot. I decided to get busy.

Before I could get another set of roots in the dirt, my sister came storming out of the house with her hands on her hips.

"Kanaya, do you still hang around with Vriska Serket?" She demanded. At first I thought she was furious about me gardening in her shirt, but there's expression didn't look angry. Determined was the right word.

I blushed, glancing at Rose who was looking our way over the edge of her book.

"No, I do not," I said truthfully, but I left off the part where I'd stopped when I'd met Rose. I'd had a huge crush on the girl before I'd meet the blonde sitting nearby.

"Do you know if her older sister is a lesbian?"

If id been drinking something I would have spat it out.

"I honestly do not know," I replied, bewildered.

Porrim rolled her eyes, pulled out her phone, and stuck it in my face. On the screen was an Instagram picture of Vriska, her sister Aranea, and Meenah Peixes from down the street. The way Aranea held on to Vriska looked sisterly enough, but it was harder to tell with Meenah. They were either very good friends, or her hand was on the other girl's breast accidentally.

"Want to see it, Rose? " my sister asked, trusting her phone Rose's way. The blonde looked over the picture and handed back the phone quickly.

"That certainly does look incriminating, but last I heard, Vriska was the one dating Meenah, not Aranea," Rose offered. Porrim rose her eyebrows.

"I guess me and Kanny'll have to get to the bottom of this," she grinned, and then left again. A few minutes later, Kankri Vantas knocked on our door, still in his Taco Bell uniform, and took my sister with him when he left.

"Rose?" I began, carefully.

"Yes, Kanaya?" She didn't miss a beat, turning the page of her book and continuing to read.

"How did you know that," I paused, my nose wrinkling, "Vriska was dating Meenah Peixes?"

She looked up, quirking an eyebrow.

"Roxy, my sister, just loves gossip. She and Meulin Leijon talk quite a bit and word gets around to them rather quickly," she answered.

I nodded, turning back to my plants.

All this time I'd never pursued Vriska because I'd thought she was straight. I didn't want to bother her with my personal problems if she couldn't reciprocate. If she wanted to just think of us a friends so be it, but this changed everything. Vriska dating Meenah was not the reason I'd stopped seeing her, she was infuriating enough already, but I was still hurt.

"Why?" Rose's voice brought me back from my thoughts.

"No reason," I huffed, dropping my hands out if the dirt to sit frustrated with the spade in my hand.

"Are you sure?" Rose pushed, "you and her used to be good friends, didn't you?"

"Yes," I agreed, "but not anymore."

"You used to hang around her," the blonde mused, "and now you hang around me. So I see a correlation or a causation?"

I flushed again. "I don't know what your talking about."

"Mmm," she hummed, turning back to her book.

I wondered about Rose. I knew she was of the same sexuality as me, she'd been pretty open about it at school, despite the teasing. I however, had not been so telling after seeing h ow she was treated.

I should tell her how I feel.

No, I shouldn't.

Yes I should. Suddenly it was driving me crazy, like an itch I couldn't scratch.

"Rose," I stammered, gripping my shorts tightly.

She looked up again. "Yes?"

I swallowed hard.

"Rose, do you, are you, well, do you," I tripped all over my words.

"Fuck," I muttered, "I just wanted to ask you about how," I paused, "about how you… Like girls."

The interested expression on Rose's face soured quickly into distaste. Her eyebrows creased and she scowled.

"Are you attempting to make a remark about my being a lesbian?" She snapped rhetorically, "because frankly, I've had enough of people's constant panderings about the subject."

"Please, do not tell me that you, Kanaya, of all people, have a problem with it," she spat, "I've been teased all year at school and the uncomfortable, stinging insults continue in my own home, at the hands of my father. I don't want to hear any more. "

"I didn't mean it that way," I murmured. I could see her expression soften.

"I apologize," she continued, sighing, "I didn't mean to be so defensive. I'm very used to having to defend myself is all."

"Considering who my sister is, I don't have a problem," I said quietly, casting my gaze to the wood grains of the deck. "Porrim is pansexual. When she came out to my mother and I two years ago, nothing changed. She's still Porrim, and she still likes her promiscuity."

I paused, wringing my hands now instead of my clothing.

"My sister has always emphasized to me about being comfortable in my own skin, and I am comfortable to say it now. I am also," I stammered, "I also like girls."

I heard Rose's book close and the porch creaked as she crossed it.

Her arms wrapped around my shoulders as she enveloped me in a hug. It wasn't tight, she didn't squeeze. This act took me off guard. I turned to look at her once again.

Rose was smiling, closed mouthed and happy. My face burned hot.

"I'm the first person you've come out to?" She asked, almost in a whisper.

I nodded.

"I'm honored."

I hadn't intended to just spill my guts like that. I was so thankful she'd been the only one around to hear me. It wasn't that I wanted to hide, I just wasn't sure if I was ready to tell people.

"Kanaya," Rose murmured, pulling my attention back to her, "So I'm to believe our rendezvous have been more than just that? Were you trying to ask me on a date this whole time?"

She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. She was so close to me. I could see the flush in her cheeks and the way her pupils dilated. Her irises were the most beautiful shade of blue-gray, almost lavender in the lighting. I wanted that color wrapped around me.

She smiled still.

"I like you," my words spilled out. I clamped my hand over my mouth to shut myself up. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"I reciprocate," she says simply, and that's all she said. It was all she needed to say.

I blinked at her, suddenly bleary eyed, and I returned her embrace.

Two words. It had only taken two words to fill my chest with joy.

I felt like everything I'd ever wanted was right here in front of me, and she liked me back.

"I suppose next time we go out, it could be a proper date?" I questioned.

"I would hope so," she agreed.

"Kanaya! Porrim!" My mother shouted through the house.

"Here, mother!" I called back.

I pulled out my phone and checked the time and discovered it was much later than I'd thought. Rose drew away from me, but she didn't distance herself.

"Hello, Kanaya! Oh, and Rose is here as well!" my mother smiled.

"Kanaya, where is your sister?" My mother inquired, appearing in the doorway. Her jade green scrubs were a bit stained, a sign shed had an eventual day at the hospital where she was a doctor.

"Hello, mother," I greeted, "Porrim went to Meenah Peixes's graduation party."

"She'll be gone all night," my mother rolled her eyes, "will you be staying for dinner, Rose?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Rose spoke, "I hope I'm not imposing. I've been over so much lately."

My mother disappeared from the door to set down her bag and place her phone on the charger, fallowing her daily routine. "Not at all, dear. I hope you do not take offense to this, but I was just wondering. Don't your parents miss you at all?"

I saw Rose press her lips into a thin, unhappy line. There was no easy way to tell your friend's mother that your own mother was a drunkard and your father bullied you.

My mother returned and saw the look cross her face and hurriedly said; "Don't answer that. Forget I said anything, won't you?"

"It's alright Mrs. Maryam. My home life is less than satisfactory, that's all."

It was my mother's turn to look unhappy. Deeply unhappy. "You are welcome here whenever you like, alright?"

"Thank you, Mrs. Maryam."

"Would you both like you go out to eat?" My mother queried. "My treat, Rose."

"Thank you, again, Mrs. Maryam," Rose grinned.

"How about Italian?" I asked. Rise and my mother both agreed that Italian sounded good.

"I need fifteen minutes to get ahold if your sister and change my clothes, I'll be right back," my mother chatted, and she disappeared into the house.

I pulled my gardening gloves off and sat them aside.

"I hope, for your sake, you've seen the Classic Disney tale of Lady and the Tramp enough times to know what I expect," Rose remarked slyly, waggling her eyebrows.

I couldn't even think of a come back. A blush painted the tips of my ears red, across my cheeks and down my collar bones.

"You're the best there is Kanaya, it's you," she hummed, and pulled me into another hug.

Her nose ended up nuzzling into my neck seeing as she was much shorter than me. I leaned my jaw on her temple, smiling and squeezing her gently. She thumbed small circles on my shoulder blade, holding my waist in the other hand. I had both of my arms locked under under her arms.

I never wanted to hold anyone this way again. I wanted Rose now and forever.

I wanted Rose to escort me to every homecoming/Sadie Hawkins pathetic excuse for a school dance. I wanted her on my arm at Prom. There were so many possibilities with dresses and corsages, it was mind numbing.

Her phone in her pocket vibrated, and groaning, she begrudgingly pulled away.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rose, will you come home?" I could hear her brother Dave's voice on the other end. "I'm having some trouble with mom and Roxy."

"Where's dad and Dirk?" Rose huffed.

"Dirk is over to Jade's helping Jake help his uncle with a downstairs plumbing problem or some shit and Dad left as soon as he realized Roxy was drunker than a skunk on Mardi Gras."

Rose heaved a deep sigh and put her head in her free hand.

"This shit is twelve kinds of fucked up," her twin rambled, "like the sky opened and the drunk gods said 'Dave, you did nothing wrong but were punishing you anyway.' Like the cat is out of the vodka flavored bag shrieking its praise for its favorite homosexual son and brother, and to go make it another martini."

"Dave, mom is going to fall asleep in twenty minutes and Roxy is fine if she's in the vicinity of a bucket. Just get them on the couch, give mom the tv remote, and watch them. They'll be fine." Rose sounded exasperated as she spoke.

Dave's voice was quieter, but I could still hear it when he spoke. "I don't know why I always have to do this alone."

Rose faltered a little, deeply unsettled by her brothers words. Finally she simply grinned groaned in response. "Good bye, Dave."

And then she ended the call and turned her phone off to prevent further interruptions.

"Now, where were we?"

"I do believe there is a saying 'no homo', was it?" I inquired.

"That is the saying, yes," Rose agreed.

I nodded thoughtfully. "Right. I thought as much. We were at the part where it was yes homo. In fact, a lot of homo."

Rose giggled, blurring her face in my shoulder.

I could get used to this.

* * *

If I got anything out of reading Kanaya/Rose pesterlogs, it's that Kanaya has a genuine love for Rose, and that she's a bit shy when they first meet. She warms up quick. She takes no shit but she's also kind, she lets people get away with things. She's wordy but not long winded.

Rose flustered her to no end. I sort of imagined Kanaya as this fawning mushy girl when Rose started in on her.

Writing younger kids in love is sort of strange? You value different things when you're younger, and having a date mate seems a lot more important. Maybe I'm just a salty grandma. -shrug-

Follow me over on clayowls on tumblr! I've got all kinds of extras for this AU and all the others!


	8. Picture Perfect Blue (Vriska & Terezi)

So this is the end of Act 1.

Act two will begin shortly, as well as another EridanTale chapter, and I have a shit ton of oneshots and extras as well to publish. I absolutely have to update Personal Jesus and Silver spoon too. I have to many projects running and I need to wrap a few of them up.

To answer Napsta-blooky, I've already got something planned for Jane, But I can do JadexCallie! Enjoy!

* * *

My girlfriend knew how to throw a pretty bitchen party. _I_ of course had helped her with it, like a good girlfriend, and made many improvements.

Meenah's mom, Condesce, was about the coolest mom I'd ever meet. She's bought everything Meenah asked, and even stowed away a couple cases of beer just for the kids.

"Not evry day yo daughter graduates from motha fuckin high school!" The tall woman grinned, slapping her older daughter on the back.

The Peixes's back yard was a swamp of fuchsia pink streamers and doughnut shaped pool floaties. The pool and Meenah's swimming scholarship had been the main focus of the party.

Once all of the relatives left, Condesce included, I found myself donning my black two piece with a cold beer in my hand.

"Was real nice of you to stay all day with me like this," Meenah remarked slyly, pressing her cold can into my naked side. I squealed in response, pressing mine to her neck in retaliation.

She threw her head back and laughed, gripping my chin and pulling me into a sloppy kiss on the lips.

"What kind of _bad_ girlfriend would I be if I didn't stay all day?" I asked loftily, making her smirk.

I glanced up at her taller frame. We'd bought the same bathing suit on purpose, but it looked much better on her.

"Um, would somebody tie me up, please?" My sister asked, coming out of the house with her hands clasped over her boobs, her back tie hanging loose at her sides. Aranea had on her boring old blue old suite she'd got last year. I didn't spend much time looking at her, but earlier I had noticed she was nursing her beer a bit heavier than me. I wondered what was up with that.

"Sure," Meenah left my side to tie a bow for her best friend.

Just as she picked up the strings, the doorbell rang. All of the other graduates from the neighborhood were supposed to be on their way back over.

"I'll get it!" A cheery voice called through the house. Meenah rolled her eyes as her younger sister Feferi, a girl in my own friend group, came bounding down the stairs to get the door.

"Hey, hey, heeey!" Latula Pyrope's voice shouted through the house.

"Aw shit! Hey, Pyrope!" Meenah grinned, and the two went in for a high five that had them both shaking their hands from the sting.

Mituna Captor was standing sort of awkwardly off to the side, frowning. He was probably here only for his girlfriend.

Feferi entered the room, smiling at me as she made her way back over to the pool and decided to amuse herself in the water. I smiled back but only to be civil.

Porrim Maryam showed up with Kankri Vantas a few minutes later. Cronus Ampora waltz in after that, and after that Horuss Zahhak followed Rufioh Nitram into the party. The only people not in Attendance were Damara Megido, Gamzee's weird older brother and Nepeta's sister Meulin. Damara and Meulin hated Meenah's guts, I learned, and Kurloz stayed away on his girlfriend's principal.

Everyone sort of just fell into line after that. People gravitated away from Meenah, they liked her well enough to call her a friend, but no one was particularly close to her and my sister.

Two hours into the party, we had the back yard lit up with Christmas lights and everybody was getting a little crazy. It was a little hard to get really drunk in such a short time. I would probably have to say buzzed was the right word for all the giggling light weights in front of me.

I was sitting with my back up against the pool, half submerged in the warm water next to Meenah. She was quiet for once, sitting on the cement with her feet in the water, holding my hand.

Latula Pyrope was doing probably the third or fourth backflip off the pool deck, laughing wildly in a way that reminded me of her sister, and shaking out her wet mane of hair. She screamed something along the lines of "Totally Radical!" And hugged her boyfriend around the middle. Mituna was still extremely unimpressed.

I'd been friends with Terezi long enough to know this wasn't the real her. Every time she went out in public it was 'radical' that, and 'sweet' this, and that, and the other thing. At home she just wanted to sit quietly and play video games.

"What's up with her?" I finally asked, quiet enough for only Meenah to hear.

"Social anxiety or somethin', I dunno," Meenah muttered back.

My sister was on, oh, God, was that her third beer? Aranea and I couldn't get drunk. Our mom would probably warp us into some kind of mind controlled suicide if we did. She was going to have to spend the night here. God. _God_. Sometimes she was _so_ stupid.

"You hear that?" My girlfriend quizzed.

"Hear what?" I replied.

"Door bell," she sighed. It rang again and that time I heard it.

"I'll get it," I smiled, "it's your party. The least _I_ could do, as your _girlfriend_ is get the door for you."

"Thanks," she grinned, placing a kiss on the top of my head.

I hauled myself out of the pool, grabbing a towel on my way. I didn't think Condesce would mind a little water on her carpet. The house was empty except for me and the booming music, and the doorbell rang several more times before I got to it.

"I'm coming! Jesus, keep your pants on!" I huffed, grasping the doorknob to throw it open.

I wasn't prepared for who was standing there.

Terezi was on the doorstep, wearing a pair of ripped shorts with skinned up knees. Her glasses were gone, and it revealed her eyes.

When I went blind in my left eye, it had been so damaged they'd taken it straight out of my head and replaced it with a glass eye. It looked a little lazy was all, you could hardly tell it was fake.

Terezi, on the other hand, was not as lucky as I was. She still had both eyes in her sockets, but instead of white with blue green irises, they were perpetually red. Scarring had replaced any other color in her eye with a milky whiteness. Her eyelids seemed to be constantly hooded. That might have been nerve damage though.

Looking at her made me feel like I'd had all the luck that day. All of it.

I pulled my gaze away from her eyes to examine the rest of her face. Her nose was red and tear stains tracked her cheeks. Her cane was gone.

"Terezi?" I asked in disbelief.

"Shit, uh," Terezi muttered, wiping her nose with her wrist, "I'm trying to go to Meenah Peixes's house. Fuck, can you point me in the right direction? I don't need help."

I knew how much she hated it when people wouldn't let her do things for herself.

"You're at the right house," I confirmed.

She rubbed her unseeing eyes next, trying to chase away tears. "Is Latula here?"

"Yeah. What happened to you?"

"Terezi?!"

Latula practically pushed me out of the way, her soaking body drenching the carpet. I really hoped Mrs. Peixes wouldn't mind.

"Latula, oh," Terezi's voice cracked before it split into sobs.

"Hey, it's okay, Sissy," the older Pyrope sister cooed, scooping her sister into a hug, "what happened? What's wrong?"

"Pyral," she choked out.

My heart sank almost as fast at Latula's expression. Terezi loved that dog.

"What's wrong with him? Where is he?" Latula pried her sister's face away from her chest, forcing her sister to look up at her even though her sister couldn't see.

"He, fuck, I can't find him. He's gone, he ran off."

My brow furrowed. Didn't that go against his guide dog training?

"What happened, Terezi?" Latula asked once more, trying to smooth her sister's shoulders. "I can't understand you when you're crying."

Terezi cried a little harder, but then moments later, probably realizing her sister was right, started to calm herself.

"I don't know. I couldn't see him. I just wanted to go to see if Nepeta was home, and all of a sudden he's barking and snarling, and something knocked me over. I called him and called him but he never came. I couldn't find my cane, or my glasses, I don't even know how long he's been gone."

"We're gonna find him, Terezi,' Latula replied confidently. "let's call mom, and then we'll get in the car and go look for him."

Terezi hassled her phone out of her pocket as Mituna joined us from outside.

"Latula, would you hel-hellp me with my sh-fuck, shirt?"

"Yes, give me two seconds," she told him, not taking her eyes away from Terezi.

"What's go, going on?" Mituna stuttered, coming closer.

"Pyral is lost," I murmured as the phone clicked.

"Mom?" Terezi hiccuped, "Mom, Pyral ran away."

I couldn't hear her mom on the other side of the phone, but Terezi handed the phone to Latula.

"Hello? Yes, she's fine. Scraped up, but fine," she paused, "yeah. We're gonna go walk the neighborhood. Yeah okay, bye."

Latula sighed as she hung up the phone. "She said she'll be here in fifteen. I'm gonna get me and Tuna dressed, stay here." And then she disappeared to the bathroom, taking Mituna with her.

"Are you still there, Vriska?" My best friend mumbled. Yes, she was still my best friend.

"Of course I'm here," I answered, "do you want to sit down?"

"I'm good."

She looked miserable.

"I'll help you find him, I'm sure he's close by." I insisted. The look that crossed her face was something like disbelief. Even if she was my best friend, we weren't exactly on speaking terms all of the time.

"Okay," Latula sounded rushed as she reentered the room, pulling Mituna. Her clothes were wet from her bathing suit and her hair was in tangles. The front if Terezi's t-shirt was wet as well.

"I'm gonna go get my car keys, and you, me, and Tuna are gonna ride around and call him. Mom said she'll walk the neighborhood when she gets here."

"Vriska said she'd help," Terezi added.

"Oh," Latula glanced my way with suspicious confusion.

Terezi sniffed one last time, her crying fizzing away, but her cheeks still puffy. "You guys take the car, I'll go with Vriska and check the woods behind the subdivision."

"Terezi, I don't know-" Latula began but her younger sister didn't let her finish.

"We don't have time to argue," Terezi reminded her. She was right. Latula gave no further protest. Latula pulled Mituna with her as she left.

I ducked back into the house momentarily to tell Meenah I was leaving, and she gave me a thumbs up in return. I slipped my cloths back on and grabbed my phone.

The first thing we did was collect Terezi's cane and sunglasses from the pavement. Thankfully for her neither was broken.

Next, we set off into the woods.

The cane was pretty much useless once we crested the tree line. We entered behind my house on a trail I knew by heart, searching for mud or dirt with paw imprints. Terezi couldn't 'see' without her dog and cane. There were roots, leaves, broken acorns and uneven ground everywhere. I could tell she was struggling. I sort of didn't want to help her, I knew how much she hated handouts.

She didn't want to just be the blind girl, Terezi wanted to be the blind girl who could do stuff for herself. Not only was she slowing us down, but I could tell by the look on her face she was distressed. I of course had a remedy.

"Hey, it's kinda dark. Hold my hand so I don't lose you," I commanded.

"Okay," she agreed, and I clasped my hand over hers.

"So this was your idea, do you think he's back here?" I inquired.

"I don't know," she said coldly. We walked a little further in silence, the sticks crunching under our sneakers. I was going to leave it alone, but she spoke again, and it set my nerves on edge. "If he got hit I don't want to know about it."

"I'm sure he's fine, he's a dog, dogs are resourceful," I tried to laugh it off, but Terezi was not in a laughing mood. "Maybe you should call him?"

"Pyral!" She shouted instead of answering.

"Here boy, Pyral!" I joined in.

We carried on, calling her dog for I don't know how long. It was dusk when we left, but it was night now, and I used my phone flashlight to see. The mosquitos were bad tonight, and we were both slapping our arms and legs to keep them off. We were nearing the end of the trail. It was less than an acre and it spit out in the subdivision behind ours. Terezi didn't know this, she didn't know where we were, but I knew.

"Pyral!" Terezi shouted again. Then she sighed, exasperated.

"We're gonna find him," I tried again to reassure her.

"Shh," she put her finger to her lips.

"Terezi! Don't be such a downer!" I huffed.

"No! Be quiet. I heard something," she sputtered.

It was quiet, but I heard it too. A small yip, followed by the unmistakable whining of a dog.

"Pyral?" Terezi questioned.

The dog yipped again.

"Oh, I'm coming buddy!"

Terezi went towards the sound, her hands out in front of her until she found herself in a viney growth wrapped around the base of a tree. She grunted as a stick poked her in the face and she swatted it away, only for another to stab her in the ear.

"Okay, _no_ , " I told her, pulling her out of the undergrowth. "I'll go in after him."

I might only have one good eye, but at least I could see where I was going. I swept the brush away from my path, getting a few pokes from the brushes myself.

Big brown eyes stared back a me, shining in the light of my phone. The yellow lab's harness was tangled and snagged, trapping him in the brush and preventing him from moving. I could see his chest was bloody, running from a hole in his neck that stained his yellow coat brown. He panted, stressed out and drooling a little.

"Is he okay?" Terezi asked.

"Uh, kinda," I muttered, "just hold on. He's gonna be fine."

"Kinda? What does that mean?"

I groaned, "he's bleeding alright? We're gonna get him out. Call your mom, do something productive!"

It was like that hadn't dawned on her, because she then pulled out her phone and commanded it to call her mother. I didn't listen to her conversation, just struggled through the brush to the dog.

Pyral was happy to see me, I think. He didn't growl at me, so I figured that was a good sign. I grabbed his leather collar and unhooked his leash and harness. I began pulling the leash through the sticks, finally dislodging it I threw it on to the trail. It was hard enough to crawl through the bushes when I had two working arms, but now I was minding my prosthetic and trying to use my only remaining arm to do multiple things.

I set on the harness next. As soon as I got that, the whole dog came free, and I guided him to the trail.

"Here, Terezi," I said, hooking the leash back to the dog and handing it to her.

My friend almost collapsed, her knees buckling as she threw her arms around me in a lopsided hug. She was crying, hard, and nearly crushing me. Hesitantly, I wrapped my good arm around her.

"Thank you," she choked, "thank you, Vriska."

"Your welcome," I smiled, "I told you we'd find him. Now let go, I gotta haul his harness out of there and then we gotta book it."

She let go like I'd asked, and I struggled the harness out of the tangle of brush. The 'seeing eye dog' patch was ripped, but somehow I didn't think she'd mind.

I held her hand on the way back out, and in her other hand, she held her dog's lead in a firm grip.

Neophyte Pyrope's SUV was bright red, and I could see it's tail lights glowing bright through the dark as she wheeled into the cul-de-sac going a hundred miles an hour. Latula's car pulled in next, and they both stood in the street, waiting for us.

"Thank you, Vriska," Terezi said again. I rolled my eyes.

"You already said that. Go get that dog to the vet," I scoffed. Finally, a smile cracked her face.

Neophyte was scooping the dog up and loading him into a crate before either of us said a word. Latula got her sister into the car, picking leaves out of her hair before shutting the door and going back to her own car. Neophyte was nervous, so she'd clammed up, racing around to get everything ready to go.

I stepped out of the way before the SUV ran my ass over, jerking back and jumping foreword before it even stopped motion.

"Thanks!" The older Pyrope sister shouted, pulling out after her mother. I held my hand up and waved as they left.

I huffed, scratching idly at my neck. I had a hundred mosquito bites covering my skin and everything itched. My cloths chafed my skin. God. Good lord. I needed to find some anti-itch cream and some fucking powder.

I glanced over at my girlfriends house, and it looked like the party was still on, so I headed back there. I let myself back in the front door.

Meenah was standing in her kitchen, holding another beer and messing with the stereo when I entered the house.

"Hey!" She grinned, "get in a fight with tree and loose?"

"Something like that," I muttered, rolling my eyes, "That dog was so damn stupid he ran himself into a bush and got stuck. What an idiot."

"Want some?" She asked, offering me her drink. I took and and sipped it.

"Your hair is a goddamn hot mess," she smirked.

"Yours isn't much better," I grinned. She had horrible pool hair.

"Come on," she urged, tugging on my hand. She lead the way to her downstairs bathroom. I sat on the toilet as she rummaged around in the drawers for a comb. I helped myself to a bottle of itch cream while she was distracted.

"Did the dog get very far?" She inquired.

"No, just in the woods. I think something bit him though. What kind of stupid mutt runs away when it's hurt? He was probably after something."

She shrugged. "Animals are stupid."

She ran the comb through my long hair, careful when it snagged. She pulled the sticks and leaves out gently, and worked with small strands.

"Not your fish though?" I jested.

"Especially the fish," she laughed. "Your sister is passed out in my room. You staying the night too?"

I paused, taking another cold sip off of her beer. "Only if we can switch to cola."

"Deal."

* * *

The song I used here was "Boom Clap" from The Fault In our Stars.

Pyral was alright, by the way! The vet got him all patched up.


	9. Miss Believer (Roxy)

Beginning of Act Two!

I got a request for a Katnep chapter, and I can definitely do that but not in the way you'd think! Since Dave is with karkat already, and this is a running collection.

* * *

The lock on my mom's liquor cabinet was broken and that was not a secret. I only needed to jiggle it a little and it popped open. I raided the overflowing cabinet for a bottle of vodka and a half drank bottle of pucker.

"Are you sure you don't want any, Jakey? I promise we won't get in trouble, I do this all the time!" I grinned, turning around and holding the bottles up.

"That's quite alright Roxy," Jake grinned, "My great uncle wouldn't appreciate it."

I shrugged as my twin brother decided the finished basement steps. He carried a stack of solo cups in one hand and a two-liter of orange Fanta in the other.

"Where'd you say Jane was tonight?" Dirk asked, setting his items down in favor of picking a cup off from the pile. He opened the two litter with a hiss and sloshed a little into his cup.

"She said something about John needing to get hit with a phone book," Jake answered, watching as I filled it up Dirk's cup the rest of the way.

Dirk snorted, "phone books don't leave bruises."

"Johns so cute," I gushed, "I can't believe how hard he pranks Jane, he looks so innocent!"

Dirk laughed. He settled down in the middle of the couch and I took up the left side, pinning him between me and Jake.

"You haven't been around him long enough," Jake rolled his eyes, "he's a bit of a bugger usually."

I'd forgone the soda all together and poured a straight glass of Vodka while he was talking. I downed it instead of replying. My throat burned and when I exhaled, it felt like my mouth was on fire. Dirk raised his eyebrows at me. I grinned back. He poured me half of his drink and watered the rest down with more Fanta.

I kicked back more alcohol, content to take big gulps instead of little sips.

Two pair of thumping feet decided the stairs then. Rose, my younger sister, followed by her girlfriend, Kanaya.

"Roxy," my sister began, "where are our parents?"

"Mm?" I hummed, turning to her, "Daddy drove mom to the store."

"When will they be back?" She inquired.

"Oh, I dunno. A couple a hours? I guess dad's buying her a new washing machine," I replied, raising my glass back to my lips.

"Kinky," Dirk muttered. I nearly spit out my drink laughing. Rose didn't look impressed.

"D'ya want some?" I offered, holding out my cup to my sister.

I could see her considering it behind the psychoanalyzing. She'd drank with me a couple times, but I don't think she liked the way it made her feel.

"No, thank you," she said finally. She took Kanaya's hand and the two tromped back upstairs.

"What do you suppose that was about?" Jake asked.

"Who knows," Dirk shrugged, "she's usually all kinds of psycho cryptic."

"Look who's talking," Jake laughed, and elbowed him in the side.

"They're so cute together," I sighed, " It's like the aristocrats or something."

"They're so cute it rots my teeth," my brother rolled his eyes, "worse than Dave and Karkat."

It was my turn to elbow Dirk. "Says the guy who can't stop making goo goo eyes at his boyfriend in public."

"We aren't cute. We're manly as hell," he argued.

"We are Absotively posilutely manly as all hell," Jake grinned.

I giggled and emptied my cup again.

"So, Roxy dear," Jake began, kicking back with his feet on the coffee table, "what's the word these days?"

"The word?" I questioned before I caught on, "oh, oh. I guess Cronus Ampora and Damara Megido are hanging out a lot. Meulin didn't know if they were dating or not though. Meu also told me that Kurloz is gonna get rid of all his weed."

Gossip was something I excellent at. Meulin Leijon was a year older than me, but we were still good friends. She knew just about everything that went on in the neighborhood. What she didn't know, I did.

Dirk crinkled his nose but he didn't speak.

"The cats already outta the bag on that one," Jake waved me off, "I figured he would since he's up the pole."

"Up the pole?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Pregnant," Dirk interjected, "his girlfriend is pregnant."

I rose my eyebrows and took a drink, looking away. Jake sure was a.. Unique talker.

"Mkay. Well, Terezi Pyrope's leader dog got bit by a raccoon last night. It ran off through the woods until it got stuck in the bushes and Vriska Serket had to haul him out," I offered.

"Why in the devil was be that close to a raccoon?"

I shrugged. "It was dark, Terezi can't see and it was garbage night."

That answer was acceptable. No more questions were posed.

"I want a puppy," Dirk said out of the blue.

"A puppy would be pretty great!" I agreed.

"Undoubtedly! A big brute to play fetch with! A nice mastiff or an Akita! I'll barrow Bec from Jade and we could walk them together!" Jake chimed. Dirk rolled his eyes.

"How about a pug," my brother countered.

"A pug? Dirk! Those ankle biters are for sissies! You need a man's dog!" Jake argued.

"Pugs are great, Jakey! Lil smoothed faces. Think you can get dad to go for it?" I laughed. I poured myself another drink as I finished mine.

"A nuisance is what they are, pugs," Jake huffed in distaste.

Dirk rolled his eyes and slung his arm around his boyfriend's shoulder. He pulling him close and let Jake's head rested on his shoulder. Dirk eyed me as I once again filled my cup. "Roxy, that's your fourth drink."

"Psht," I laughed, "I know that."

I could feel how hot my face was. It burned almost as much as the alcohol. I don't know when it got that way, but I pressed the cool bottle on my cheeks in effort to cool it. It didn't do much.

I wasn't feeling so hot anymore.

My stomach rumbled and I sighed, leaning my head against the back of the couch. Shit. The room was starting to gyrate. It was so fun to get drunk, I just don't understand why I always had to end up feeling bad.

My phone binged on the table, and I reached out to grab it. Each time I thought I had it, I ended up patting the table helplessly. Finally I got ahold of it. There was a text message from Jane.

))From: Jane Message: Hey, Roxy, er… what are you guys up to over there? Timestamp:5:33((

))To: Jane Message: Hey Janie! We r still drinkin down! Come over! Timestamp:5:33((

))From: Jane Message: I would if I could but I can't. I'm still trying to beat some common sense into John. Timestamp:5:34((

))To: Jane Message: lol! Hell him I said hi! Timestamp:5:34((

))To: Jane Message: *tell Timestamp:5:34((

))From: Jane Message: you know, sometimes I think it doesn't matter how big the hammer is. You can't beat smart in to stupid :B Timestamp:5:34((

))From: Jane Message: Anyway Roxy, I asked because I just saw your sister leave your garage carrying a chainsaw. Timestamp:5:35((

))To: Jane Message: a what now? We dot own a chain saw silly Timestamp:5:35((

))To: Jane Message: *don't Timestamp:5:35((

))To: Jane Message: the closest thing we have to a chainsaw is hedge trimmers Timestamp:5:36((

))To: Jane Message: hopy shit Timestamp:5:36((

I didn't even correct my spelling. I got up, throwing my phone in the ground and swung my shaky legs off the couch.

"Roxy?" My brother questioned, turning away from Jake looking bewildered.

"I'm go in' up to see what the kids are doin'," I huffed, "Jane said Roses got the head- hedge trimmers."

Dirk cocked an eyebrow. Jake looked surprised.

"Hedge trimmers? What the devil for?"

My stomach didn't feel so good. I was sure it was just worry though. I shrugged and walked around the couch, using it for balance until I got ahold of the banister on the stairway. I literally stumbled up the stairs, tripping about even four steps. When I finally made it to the top my head was spinning.

I could hear the motor to the hedge trimmers running outside, so I swayed to the back door and looked out the screen.

My back deck could only be described as a science experiment gone wrong. Splattered all over the boards was pulp from so many fruits I was too drunk to count. The chairs and table played host to the spoils, rinds off water melons and peels off oranges. An apple was stuck to the siding. The sweet smell made me nauseous.

Rose and Kanaya were standing near each other. Kanaya held the trimers while Rose carried a clipboard. They were both coated with fruit juice.

They were wearing safety glasses, at least.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, leaning on the door frame.

Kanaya, who was still wielding the hedge trimmer looked sheepish as she shut the machine off. Rose crossed her arms.

"We are conducting an experiment," my sister said factually.

"What kinda experiment?"

Kanaya exchanged glances with Rose.

"We are testing to see if hedge trimmers will effectively saw a human body in half. So far, it's done well with the fruit," Rose answered. She had a bit of er, something, splattered on her face alongside her smirk.

"I, you," I stammered, "you what now?"

"Eridan Ampora will be receiving the mess on his doorstep, do not worry," Kanaya assured. She brushed a piece of goop out of her hair. It hit the deck with a wet slap.

I put my head in my hands and rubbed my temples.

"What happened?" I slurred my words a little. I hadn't meant to. In fact I prided myself on how well I could talk while drunk.

"Eridan Ampora thinks he can walk on whoever he likes," Rose huffed.

"He feels it is alright to shout obscenities at us. He is wrong," Kanaya added, looking even more sheepish.

That totally sounded like Something Eridan would do. I didn't doubt her for a second.

I sighed. I didn't feel good and I didn't want to deal with this. I could feel myself swaying.

"I know the Ampora's are jerks, guys, but I dunno if this is a good idea," I opened the back door and stepped out, my hand outreached to take the hedge trimmer from Kanaya. "This thing is dangerous."

As if it was on que, Kanaya handed me the machine, and I dropped it.

Curse my drunken poor coordination.

The blade fell on my bare foot, crashing to the deck and bouncing once. I couldn't feel anything, but I could see the pool of blood rapidly forming. My stomach churned.

"Fuck," I muttered.

Then I felt my stomach flip, and I puked.

"Oh shit," I heard Rose mutter.

I couldn't move. I sank to the ground with my head buried in my hands. My ass hit the deck and settled on something that squished but I didn't notice. I still felt horrible. My head spun. I coughed and wrenched but I didn't throw up again.

"Rose, get a towel would you?" Kanaya asked politely, pulling the hedge trimmer off of my foot and out of my skin. Slowly I could feel the blistering pain start to bubble. Rose went behind me into the house and came back with the red towels from the bathroom Dirk and Dave shared. Kanaya tugged my hand, pulling me up and back inside. She forced me down in the nearest chair. I held the towel to my bleeding foot as she left with Rose to raid the medicine cabinet.

My stomach still hurt and I held it with the arm I wasn't using for my foot.

"Roxy?" I thought I heard my younger brothers voice. When I looked up though, I didn't see him, only spinning room. I wondered where Dave was. He always took care of me when I was drunk.

"Roxy? Right here," this time Dave's hand was on my shoulder and I was sure he was here with me.

"Are you okay?" He asked. In his left hand he had my puke bucket.

I pulled him into a hug. I almost crushed him to my chest. I hadn't even known he was home, but here he was. For me.

Kanaya came back, carrying a bottle of peroxide and a very large bandaid. Dave held my hand as she pulled the towel away, blotting at the torn skin.

It hurt, bad. Every time she touched it, tingles ran up my leg.

I knew her mom was a doctor, and she fixed me up just like one. The peroxide stung, and a few pieces of my skin just sort of hung, only attached on one side. My toes were numb, but my heel and ankle seared.

Rose returned with Dirk and Jake.

"Banged yourself there one good, huh chap?" Jake smiled, clasping me a little hard on the shoulder. Bleary eyed I returned it.

Dirk was behind me, his hand pressed to my back reassuringly. "You alright, Rox?"

I nodded, pressing my lips into a thin line. My chin quivered.

"Need to go to the hospital?" He asked.

I shook my head no. He rubbed in a small circle at the base of my neck.

I had so many people gathered around here. So many people who

cared about me. I had three beautiful siblings, and good friends who loved me. I had to be the luckiest girl on earth.

I was crying but it wasn't because of my foot.

"I'm gonna quit drinkin'," I sobbed, "I'm gonna quit drinkin today."

* * *

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG] at 9:04

TG: Hi Janey! How are you doin'?

GG: Hi Roxy! I'm doing well! How are you?

TG: better!

GG: Better? That makes me think you weren't doing so hot earlier then?

TG: ya I uh…

TG: well long story short I decided to take your advice and quit drinkin'

GG: Wow Roxy! I'm proud of you!

GG: That's wonderful! What finally made you change your mind?

TG: well you know how earlier u told me you saw rosie with the hedge trimmers?

TG: thanks for that by the way

TG: I kinda dropped it on my foot

TG: because I was drunk

TG: and I maybe sorta kinda

TG: almost puked on Rose's gf

GG: Oh my gosh Roxy!

TG: I'm okay! everything is okay! Kanaya is puke free!

TG: in fact the lil sweety even patched up my foot

GG: Good! Jeez Roxy, that's pretty bad

GG: Oh! Sorry I didn't mean that to sound mean!

TG: it's okay Jane, it was for the best even though it was a super weird kind of best

TG: you know, me and Rose used to be really close until I started drinking. I think she thought I was too much like mom, and you know how her and mom are. She's bein all nice to me now, and keeps changing my ice packs

TG: I just kinda realized how many people I have that love me and I can't go damaging myself 'cause I gotta be here for you guys! You and Dirk and Jake and my little bro and sis and my kitties

TG: especially my kitties

TG: whoa whoops sorry for getting all heavy on you there

GG: I don't mind at all! I'm just really happy for you! Speaking of your parents though, what'd they say?

TG: Daddy tried to get me to go to the hospital but I didn't wanna so him and mom got in a fight

TG: lol what else is new am I rite

GG: Does your foot hurt? Maybe you really should go to the hospital. You could get gang green! It could fall off! Roxy, do you want your foot to fall off?

TG: lmfao no I'm okay I promise. Thanks for worrying about me tho

GG: :B

GG: I gotta go to bed though, okay? I'm headed to Kurloz Makara's graduation party tomorrow I guess and I need to use the sleep

TG: Kurloz Makara? You mean the drug dealer who was a grade ahead of us? What for?

GG: Callie invited me there. She said her brother won't go with her and Gamzee went out of his way to get them an invite so she felt like she has to go

TG: dear sweet beautiful Callie. Too pure for this world

TG: lol tell her I said hi!

GG: G'night Roxy!

TG: night!

gutsyGumshoe [GG] ceased pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG] at 9:40

* * *

My headcanon voices for the alpha kids come from DaniTheDoomMagnet on YouTube. I think she makes the perfect Roxy. I also wanted to mention that while nobody has specific ethnicities, this is a diverse neighborhood! I wanted this to be able to fit any headcanon people might have for the kids. If you want the Vantases to be Puerto Rican, awesome! Want them to be African American? Go for it!


	10. Fishin' In The Dark (RufiohHoruss)

You'll have to excuse her hick-lord agri-hoe (me). I'm actually kind of a hillbilly in real life so uh, sorry not sorry, have farmer!rufioh.

* * *

I stood facing the back wall of our tack shed, standing at the work bench with a bridle in my hands. The check piece was broken, and I'd bought a replacement for it at a swap meet yesterday. Tavros, my younger brother, about shit when it broke and his horse took off.

The shed was lit mostly by the sunlight flooding in the doorway. This was an old building, so old it didn't have electricity. So old the building had sank a good eight inches into the ground.

I heard a car pull up our gravel driveway, and I knew right away who it was. My boyfriend had said he was coming out to see me today since I was needed on the farm.

I heard his car door shut and he called my name.

"In here!" I shouted. Moments later his frame shadowed the doorway.

"Good afternoon," he grinned.

I crossed the room and hugged him, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek. "Afternoon."

"What are you up to?" He asked as I separated from him.

"Oh, same old," I replied, "fixing this, mending that, swearing at cows."

He laughed a little, and I noticed the smile he'd shown up with hadn't gone away.

"What's new with you?" I asked.

"Oh, well, I've spent the better part of my morning at work," he answered.

That explained a lot. He and Meulin Leijon were coworkers, and she was always contagiously happy.

"Rufioh! Can you, uh, help?" Tavros projected his voice so I could hear it through the hundred year old wall. He was supposed to be feeding his 4-H bottle calf in the building attached to the back of this one. Leave it to him to get into trouble.

"Coming," I called back, and motioned Horuss to fallow me.

Tavros was sitting on the ground, straw in his mohawk, out of his wheelchair when I opened up the calf shed. His heifer, only about a week old, was asleep with her head in his lap. My steer was laying in the straw not far away. Both of them were White faced Herefords, brown with white faces just like their name.

"How'd you get out of the chair, dude?" I huffed, shooing the calf away from my brother.

"I did it on purpose. I wanted to hold her," he said, sort of hesitant. He was lucky he was light enough I could lift him without help. His calf came hopping back over on knobby knees. She shoved her head in to Tavros's limp leg for more treats or milk or whatever. He reached over and scratched her head.

"She's yours?" Horuss asked, standing in the doorway. He was a city boy. Livestock sort of scared him.

"Yeah, her name's Tinker Bell," Tavros said sheepishly. He was proud of his cow, but he hadn't spent much time around Horuss. He had always been a shy kid.

I smirked, "more like Tinkerbull."

Tavros didn't reply, frowning. He didn't much like my teasing.

Horuss took a few steps into the room. Shyly, he reached out to touch the heifer with just his fingers. When she didn't protest, he pressed his palm on her and petted her in earnest. "What'd you name yours, Rufioh?"

"He doesn't have one," I shrugged.

"I call him Peter," my brother ducked his head. "Like as in Peter Pan?"

I rolled my eyes. "Dude, he's a market steer, don't name him."

"I can't help it, not really, I can't," Tavros muttered. He scratched his cow behind her ear and she was loving it.

"You sell them?" My boyfriend asked, looking up.

"I do, yeah. Dad lets Tavros bring his home though," I answered.

"I'm lucky," Tav added, "my dad lets me tag my cows with special tags. So we can set them apart when the other cows go uh, well, to, you know."

"You good, little brother?" I asked. He nodded, shoving his wheels out of the ruts in the straw. The three of us left the shed. My brother had other chores to do so he left us right away. Horuss and I returned to the workbench.

He liked horses. Him and his little brother both, and he was interested to know how the bridle worked. I showed him a little about bits, the metal part that goes in the mouth. Then I talked a little about brow bands and types of reins.

"Rufioh, I don't you don't much like to talk about it, but could I ask about Tavros's accident?" He asked, sort of suddenly. He still the screwdriver in his hand and he fumbled with it before he got the Chicago screw set correctly.

"Sure," I muttered, straightening my posture, "if you really want to know."

"You don't have to tell me," he urged, but I shook my head.

"It helps to talk about it," I told him, "besides, it was years ago."

If he wanted the story, okay. Besides being a little on edge about it still, I didn't have any objections.

"It was getting ready to storm one night, and Dad was up on his horse and I was on the ATV. Tavros was in charge of the cow chute. Dad was cutting cows out from the heard and I was chasing them in, and Tavros would close it on them and then tag their ear."

I cleared my throat and turned over the bridle so he could see the other side of the screw was spinning freely. I held it for him, allowing the screw to tighten.

"So they were already pretty agitated. And then this big ol' crack of lightning lit of the sky and scared the cows. Cows ain't like pets, they're kinda wild. So, when we lost control of the herd, they went straight through the panel fence. Tavros ran, and he figured he'd get behind a gate. They tore the gate off the hinges and Tavros was under it."

"Wow," he was speechless.

"Yeah," I agreed, but then, I smiled and tried to perk him up.

"Tavros can still do stuff though. Stupid kid always got the easy chores anyway," I laughed, "he still rides and we show cows at the fair, hell, the only real change was the ramp on the front of the house."

"Oh, does-," Horuss began, but he didn't get to finish.

"Rufioh!" My dad hollered.

"In the shed, dad!" I shouted back. I couldn't catch a break today, could I?

"Good. I got that son of a bitching woodchuck, get the twenty two and take care of it for me!"

Sighing, I pulled the varmint rifle off of the shelf above my head. Next, I pulled a couple shells from the drawer beside me. They were old, wrapped in paper instead of plastic.

"You're going to shoot it?" Horuss asked.

With an expression that conveyed my regret, I looked from the gun in my hands to him. "Well, unfortunately, yeah."

"Do you have to?" He questioned, his face scrunching up in…concern? Malcontent?

"Yeah, sorry about that," I replied. "They dig holes and the cows could break their legs if they fall in one."

He nodded but he didn't look very happy still. I wasn't happy either. I didn't want to shoot it. Shooting stuff made me feel… Wrong on the inside.

I left out of the same side door, holding the rifle pointed down for safety. All five foot eleven of my dad was stood over a have-a-heart trap, and inside it was the offending woodchuck. Horuss stood in the doorway, watching.

"Dad," I muttered, "could you?"

I held out the rifle to him. I hoped Horuss standing, watching, was a good enough excuse to get out of it.

"Sure," he agreed. He took the rifle, but then he dug something out of his pocket, intending to trade. He handed me a small stick of dynamite, from great grandad's stash in the barn.

"Take care of that stump out in the field for me," he instructed, fishing out a lighter for me. "Don't blow your hand off, yeah?"

"Sure, pops," I grinned, laughing a little, "Anything else?"

"Nah, you can knock off after that," he grinned back, "have fun."

Anything I didn't get done today would still be there tomorrow. "Thanks, Dad."

I trotted back to the doorway and retrieved Horuss from his awkward position off to the side.

"Where are we going?" He quizzed as I pulled him along by the hand. He stumbled a little, muttering something about 'fiddlesticks.'

"You'll see," I grinned, and pulled my keys out of my pocket. I tried not to flinch when the gun went off.

We drove my old beater of a truck out across the freshly baled hay field. Horuss had buckled his seatbelt, and I think he might have been regretting it now since the field was so bumpy. I was probably only going fifteen miles an hour, but the truck jostled like I was flooring it down a mountain. I bounced too, but not nearly as bad with the wheel to brace myself.

I stopped the truck about twenty feet back from the stump in question, and shut the truck off.

"What are we doing all the way out here?" Horuss asked. He looked a bit pale in the face. I wondered if he was car sick.

"You'll see," I grinned, and bailed out. He followed me.

The stump was huge, probably as big around as the hood of my truck.

Tavros had sat and counted it's rings, and it ended up being a hundred and twenty some odd years old. The stump's bark had all fallen off. The bare wood was riddled with tunnels dug by the bugs that had killed the tree. My dad and I cut it down last winter and used it to heat the house.

I pulled the stick of dynamite out of my back pocket.

"Is that what I think it is?" Horuss asked in disbelief.

I laughed as I got down on my knees, scooping dirt out from under the roots. "Yeah, it is."

"Rufioh!" He exclaimed, and took a few large steps back. His long hair was out of its ponytail, and it sort of splayed over his shoulders.

His brown eyes were huge.

"It's chill, don't worry. I've been around this stuff since I was in diapers," I assured him, "relax, Doll. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

I could see him blushing, he adjusted his glasses, and frowned. I knew it made him melt when I called him that.

I drew a packet of matches out of my pocket. I situated the dynamite under a root, and angled it to blow away from my truck. I struck the match, held it to the wick, and shot out of there like a bat out of hell after it lit. Horuss was on my tail.

We hid behind my tailgate, and watched it blow.

There was a pop, and then in a cloud of smoke, the stump rocketed out of the ground. It flew about ten feet until it hit the ground and tumbled. In its wake, a crater had formed from the black dirt, with smog of a similar color billowing out of it.

"That was," my boyfriend paused, "rather eventful."

"Farm work is officially done for the day," I chatted, and reached out for his hand.

"And what are you planning to do with the remaining hours?" His eyebrows rose.

I pulled him closer via his hand and leaned in. I pressed my lips to his.

His free hand snaked around my hips as mine tangled into his hair.

Our lips met and separated with wet pops. I kept my tongue out of the way, because any tongue was almost always too much.

His body was warm. His lips were warm. He smelled like American Eagle body wash, and tasted like earth. I felt grounded with him. Nothing with Horuss was ever forced. It was true I had cheated on Damara to be with him, but Damara never felt like this.

Horuss felt like love.

I pulled away from him, watching his eyes flutter open. He was smiling again, but now I was sure it had nothing to do with Meulin Leijon. "I plan to take you on the dopest date you've ever been on."

Before I knew it, we were piling back into my truck and driving across another hay field. I drove slower, using the headlights, and tried to catch less bumps in the fading sunlight. This time we stopped on the bank of the creek that ran through my property.

I'd left the canoe out here, along with a pair of fishing poles baited with rubber worms.

I think he would have rather took the horses trail riding, but I hoped this was good enough.

I left my shoes in the truck and rolled up my pants, shoving us off the bank once Horuss and the pokes were safely inside. I climbed in, only a little wet, and used the single oar to steer us down stream.

It was almost completely dark by the time I found the fishing spot. It was marked by a long strand of binders twine my dad had thrown up in a tree. We didn't have an anchor, but I knew where and old piece of concrete was on the riverbed. I beached us on it, and hoped I wasn't putting holes in the bottom of the canoe.

I liked it out here in the sticks. The moon was bright, and big tonight. It lit the night sky like a lantern. Stars dappled the pitch colored heavens. We were far away from the city on the farm that no lights interfered with them. Paired with the lighting bugs, we didn't need flashlights to see tonight.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many stars," Horuss hushed. I'd set him up with his pole, but he was still holding it wrong. I let it go.

"They're there every night, Doll," I grinned.

I laughed a little and looked down at his pole. "Am I doing this right?"

"Sure you are. Just uh, flick it a little. Move the bait, you know?"

"Oh, I see," he looked over and observed what I was doing and copied.

"This horizontal, er, fiddlesticks, what did you say this was called again?"

"Vertical jigging," I filled in for him.

"This 'Vertical Jigging' thing is sort of fun," the look on his face made me smile. Sort of a bemused concentration that was just so him.

I settled down on the floor of the canoe, lazily leaning back against the water repelling sides.

"What should I do if I get a bite?" Horuss asked, distracting me from a firefly on my arm. "How will I know if I have a bite?"

I chuckled lightly. "The top of the pole will go down, and you'll feel it. Just, jerk once to set the hook and reel."

He stared at his pole with the utmost concentration. I couldn't help but laugh at him. That attracted his attention. He cracked a smile.

"What happens if we don't catch anything, Rufioh?"

I shrugged. "Don't matter."

"Isn't that the point of fishing though? to catch fish?"

I shook my head. "Nah. The point of fishing is relaxing and spending time with somebody you love."

* * *

Has anyone ever actually been vertical jigging though? It's basically you put your bait in the water, and just kind of twitch your poke so your bait moves and the fish see it and bite. I prefer to troll (drag the bait from a moving boat).  
So, Rufioh was hard because when I went back and read some stuff on him, I found I interpreted his character entirely wrong. He's not confident, and he's not responsible. He's a coward who won't own up to his wrongs and he's selfish. He seems almost afraid of people looking up to him, so he developed this passive personality, and uses excuses to act the way he does. He also apparently didn't like Horuss anymore in canon? I just noped on that part.  
Horuss apparently used to be super angry, but that changed when he meet Equius and Nepeta, and as a result, became pale with Meulin. He grew up with Equius, Nepeta and Meulin in this au. So he probably never had that sort of anger? I found jack all on him besides he's polite and likes to talk.  
Shrug  
Dancestors man, dancestors.


	11. Not Listening (Karkat)

Alrighty, so I actually wrote this last week when I actually had time. Stuff's about to get bat shit crazy around my house. My goat is getting separated from his mother and hes coming home, I've got a 4 day horse show in less than a week and another horse show this weekend. Wish me luck guys, and enjoy this chapter!

* * *

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"I'm not. And don't swear at me," my dad huffed. "Get dressed, Karkat."

My dad stood in my doorway, Kankri looming behind him.

"I don't want to go, you can't make me," I insisted.

My eyes narrowed. He folded his arms.

"If you're not going, I'm not driving you to the movies Friday." Dad drove a hard bargain.

I stared at him, and he stared back. He wasn't going to shave his ugly ass stubble, even though Kankri had begged him to. Dad thought it made him look rugged, or younger, or some other fucking excuse to be lazy as fuck and not shave. He looked like a bum.

I thought I should do something to spite him. I wasn't sure what just yet.

"Get dressed, Karkat," my father commanded again, "we're leaving in ten minutes for the Leijon's."

Then he shut the door and I heard his footsteps pad off down the hallway and then down the stairs.

"I know you're there, Kankri," I spat, not moving off of my bed.

My older brother, clad in one of his million red t-shirts, opened my door and let himself it.

"It's kind of fishy, don't you think?" He inquired, fussing with the pockets of his cargo shorts.

"What's fishy? That dads barking up Mrs. Leijon's tree so hard the barks falling off?" I snorted. Finally I shoved myself off my bed. I checked my hermit crab's food situation, turning my back on Kankri.

"You don't have to be so brash about it," my brother huffed. "But that's only part of what I meant. I meant it's fishy that after years of spending the Fourth Of July at home, he suddenly wants to spend it with the Leijon's. I realize that he is courting-"

"Courting?" I laughed, "they're probably fucking."

"Karkat!" Kankri hissed, "would you keep it down?"

I passed him off, going to my closet to pull out a pair of shorts and a shirt. It was too fucking hot for this today. "Whatever. I don't care. I'm just pissed I have to play nice with God fucking Nepeta."

"Yes, well… I'll see you downstairs," my brother sighed. He shut my door when he left. I got dressed and headed down after him. My family of three walked down the street, down three houses, to the Leijon's. We passed Dave's house on the way, and I wondered what his shit family was up to.

My dad let us in, since the door was unlocked, and lead us through the house to the backyard.

The Leijon's house wasn't any fancier than ours, just cleaner, and with twice as many cats. Seriously, I counted five just out in the open, and three more on the back deck.

"Good afternoon, Ladies!" My father smiled.

"Signless!" Ms. Leijon looked elated, dropping whatever she was doing to hug him.

Gag me with a spoon.

"Hi there!" Nepeta, the bane of today's existence, bounced up to us. I rolled my eyes.

Nepeta had always been excitable and happy. Just like everybody else in the neighborhood, I'd known her since I was a kid. As silly as she was, nobody ever made fun of her. She was taller than me, and twice my size. That bugged me.

"Hi, Nepeta," I returned. She'd always been unnecessarily friendly.

Kankri had already made himself at home with Meulin and her boyfriend. My brother looked intimidated, and I would too with six foot fucking tall Kurloz sitting near me. Shit, he was creepy. It wasn't even the speech thing it was just his whole person.

"Karkat, do you want to see my kitties?" Nepeta was smiling wide and almost bouncing with joy.

"Why the fuck not," I agreed. Anything to get away from this awkward mess.

My word choice earned me an unhappy glance from my dad but he didn't say anything.

Nepeta grabbed my hand and tugged me along back inside the house.

She sat me down on her couch and grabbed up the nearest cat, an orange tabby with a green cat collar.

"This is Pounce de Leon. We pretty much just call him Leon though," she said, thrusting the cat into my arms. He wiggled and clawed at my arm, but Nepeta just shoved him back down until he was laying nicely in my lap.

"Bastard," I muttered, examining the hairline scratches on my skin.

"This is Princess," Nepeta chirped, reaching under the couch and pulling out a big black cat like some kind of weird magic trick.

"I don't want to hold her," I hissed as Leon squirmed out of my arms. I let him go.

"That's okay," Nepeta smiled. She sat the cat down on the sofa and left for a minute, walking to the nearest cat tree and pulling a laser pointer out of some hidey hole. She tossed it to me, still smiling.

I pressed the button and the little red laser shot out the end, attracting the attention of Leon, Princess, and two other cats. Nepeta and I played with them while the rest of our families stayed outside, cooking or talking or whatever. The house was air conditioned so I think I probably got the best end of the deal.

Nepeta had another cat toy, a mouse on a string, and she was playing one on one with another white cat.

After about an hour, my dad called us outside to eat. He'd made hot dogs on the grill, and Ms. Leijon prepared potato salad and a bunch of other great American picnic food. It was so stereotypical it was annoying.

I stayed outside after dinner, sitting on the deck with my feet hanging off the edge. It was getting dark, and Meulin had mentioned something about fireworks in her garage. Nepeta had abandoned me to join our siblings. The teenagers had started a bonfire and were making s'mores. I didn't want any part in any of it.

Meanwhile my dad was curled up with Nepeta's mom behind me, on the porch swing. It made me sort of sick.

It set wrong in my gut that he just decided to spring this whole thing on us. Kankri and I knew they'd been seeing each other, but my dad had never even mentioned it to us. Like it was some grand secret. How it could be, I didn't know. The car was constantly parked in the Leijon's driveway.

"Karkat," Ms. Leijon's voice called. I turned around to look at her and she motioned me closer. My dad had his arm slung around her shoulder. It made me nauseous.

I got up and crossed the deck to her.

"Why don't you go sit with the other kids?" She questioned.

I shrugged. "They're insufferable."

That made her laugh a little. "Okay. Would you rather go inside and watch a movie or something?"

That was cool of her, actually. "Thanks, Ms. Leijon."

"Call me Disciple," she grinned. I scowled.

"Hold on," my dad spoke up. "Before you go, I'd like to say something."

"Are you sure thats a good idea? Now? " Mrs. Leijon asked quickly, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Positive," my dad confirmed, and then he stood up. "Kids, come here for just a second."

Oh fuck.

My mind rushed. They were gonna get fucking married or some shit. This was the worst day of my life. My stomach did flips. Nepeta bounded up to us. Kankri, Meulin and Kurloz stayed seated, but my dad had their attention.

"So, I'm not exactly sure how to tell you all this," he cleared his throat, "and I suppose there's no easy way to say it."

"Motherfucker, please," I growled, " spit it out."

I thought he might yell at me or something, but Mrs. Leijon put her hand on his arm.

"Signless and I are together," she began carefully.

"We sort of got back together," my dad continued. He was looking sort of nervous now. "As in, we were together before."

"Yes," Ms Leijon agreed, "about seventeen years ago."

Hold on. My dad was married to my mother seventeen years ago. My mom would have been pregnant with Kankri. Wait just a goddamn minute.

"Are you saying you cheated on my mother with her?" I spat. I could feel my face turning red. My knuckles clenched so hard they were white.

"Karkat," my father warned.

"No! You're going to fucking listen to me! Are you saying you cheated on my mom with her?" I was screaming. I was sure the whole neighborhood could hear me. I could see my dad wanted to scream back.

"That's what happened," Disciple confined, cutting him off before he could yell at me.

There was a long, awkward pause before she began speaking again. "Girls, Signless is your father."

I absolutely fucking lost it.

"You mean to tell me while my mother was dying of fucking cancer you were running around having kids with, of all people, with her?" I shouted, "I never even got to fucking know her and you took her for granted?"

My dad swallowed hard. "We should have waited to tell you."

"Fuck you! You douche sucking, dog humping shit for brains! Fuck all of you! I'm going home!" I threw my arms up in the air and screamed. I almost ripped the door off the hinges on the way out.

I didn't remember walking home, or entering my house. I remembered crying though, sobbing into my arm.

Disciple Leijon was not my mother and she never would be. Fuck, how could he? How could my dad just, just do that? To me? To my mom? To his other two kids? How do you live across the street from two of your children and just not tell them?

I had a headache from crying. I wiped the snot from my nose with a dirty shirt.

I got myself back in check, and took some Advil for my head. I felt like I wanted to cry still, but my head said otherwise.

I couldn't stop thinking about my mom. All the pictures of her were stowed away somewhere out of sight. Out of mind. Nothing of hers was left in the house. Dad didn't talk about her. Kankri didn't even remember her.

I knew somebody did though. I picked up my cell phone, and dialed my uncle in New York. My mother's brother could tell me about her.

His gruff voice came over the speaker within a few rings. "Hello? Just who the fuck is callin' me at this time a night? I work first shift!"

"Uncle Slick? It's me, Karkat."

"Oh. Hey, Karkat," he yawned, much less offended, "How you doin' kid?"

"Can you tell me about my mom?" My words felt like vomit, "anything, just tell me anything about her."

"Your motha, eh?" He sounded pretty deep in thought, "yeah sure. I'll tell ya about her."

I could feel my lip quivering. I didn't want to cry again.

"I'm sure ya dad told you her name was Stella. Everybody called her Snowman though. She liked nicknames, but don't ask me where that one came from."

I just let him talk.

"She didn't take shit from nobody, and I mean nobody. She was fierce. She never lost an argument. We used to fight like hell when we were kids! And she fought with your dad sometimes too."

"Did," my voice cracked, "did she love my dad?"

"A'course she loved your dad! She used to say, 'you know brother of mine, he ain't perfect but neither am I.' She used to say that all the time." Uncle Slick sounded so sure of himself. I figured this was the closest thing to the truth there was.

"And you know somethin' else?" My uncle asked rhetorically, "she loved you. You was only six months old when she died, but she held you every minute she could. They found the cancer when she had you, and it was already too late. That didn't stop her from bein' the best mom she could while she was here."

I tried to keep quiet, but I couldn't stop the whine that escaped my lips. I put my head in my hands, trying to hold back my tears.

"I got some pictures of her, and I think maybe a video, if you want 'em," my uncle offered.

"Please," I squeaked.

"Sure thing kid," my uncle sighed. "I'll get 'em in the mail tomorrow. I gotta go kid, I work in three hours."

"Thanks. Bye," I managed. He said goodbye too, and we hung up.

I think I just laid there on my bed, exhausted, for another ten minutes before my phone binged with a text message.

)) From: Strider Message: hey, I don't know where your at but you could be at casa de strider here, holding the worlds cutest puppy. Timestamp: 9:45 ((

)) From: Strider Message: his name is Hal Timestamp: 9:45((

))Enclosed was a picture of a little black pug puppy. I could see his sister Roxy's chin and skinny arms in the picture.

To: Strider Message: where the fuck did you get that thing? Timestamp:9:45((

)) From: Strider Message: mom brought him home. Best part of today was dad didn't fight her about him. Get your ass over here and pet him. Timestamp: 9:46((

)) From: Strider Message: come on roxys sober and dads being nice and dirk has fireworks hurry it up Timestamp: 9:47((

))To: Strider Message: keep your too tight hipster pants on! Jeez! Desperate much? Timestamp: 9:47((

I got up and slipped my shoes back on. Anywhere with Dave was better than here.


	12. You and I (Nepeta & Equius)

Hey everybody! I have returned a grand champion! So here's the deal, I am celebrating one year on ao3 and 8 years here on fanfiction! I plan to update ALL of my stories in progress in celebration! Let me know what you guys think about this chapter and the one upcoming! Somg for this chapter is "You and I" by Pvris, who I've seen in concert. :3

* * *

So, I'm not exactly sure how to tell you all this," Signless Vantas, my mom's boyfriend, cleared his throat, "and I suppose there's no easy way to say it."

"Motherfucker, please," Karkat growled, " spit it out."

Mr. Vantas looked pretty mad, like he might yell, but my mom put her hand on his arm.

"Signless and I are together," she began carefully. That was old news. Mr. Vantas had been coming over for dinner for months. I liked him. His son Karkat was in my grade, and we'd been friends since we were little. Not friends like I was with Equius, but we were friends. I blinked slowly, and tried to understand what my mom was getting at.

"We sort of got back together," Mr. Vantas continued. He was looking sort of nervous now. "As in, we were together before."

"Yes," Mom agreed, "about seventeen years ago."

Seventeen years ago? Well, my sister was seventeen, she'd be eighteen in a few weeks. What else happened seventeen years ago? That would have been like.. Nineteen ninety nine?

Karkat put it together faster than me.

"Are you saying you cheated on my mother with her?" Karkat screeched. His face turned red and his entire body went ridged. I was standing directly next to him and I sort of shied away.

"Karkat," his father warned.

"No! You're going to fucking listen to me! Are you saying you cheated on my mom with her?" He screamed. I bet all of our neighbors could hear him. Everybody would be talking tomorrow.

It wasn't that I was too slow to figure it out, I just couldn't believe my ears. That couldn't be. My mom was honest, she wouldn't be anyone's mistress.

"That's what happened," my mom said gently, her gaze soft and sorry. My jaw dropped.

We all just sort of stood there in disbelief while a long, awkward silence fell over us. My mom was the one to break it, and she dropped a horrible bombshell on us.

"Girls, Signless is your father."

Karkat absolutely fucking lost it.

"You mean to tell me while my mother was dying of fucking cancer you were running around having kids with, of all people, with her?" He hollered, "I never even got to fucking know her and you took her for granted?"

His dad's face was hard and distressed when he answered. "We should have waited to tell you."

"Fuck you! You douche sucking, dog humping shit for brains! Fuck all of you! I'm going home!" Karkat's voice was so loud it cracked. He shrieked, throwing his hands up in the air as he stormed out. I could see tears streaming down his face as he left, and I heard our front door slam shut.

We all just sort of stood there, frozen after he walked out. I didn't blame him for leaving, he had a lot to take in, and that was just his way of dealing with it. I don't know what I would have done if that happened to me.

And then I sort of realized it just had.

I looked back at my sister. Meulin's eyebrows were furrowed as Kurloz spelled words to her, explaining the situation in sign language. She hadn't heard any of that seeing as she was deaf and Mr. Vantas had been too far away to read all of his words from his lips. Her jaw dropped when he finished.

'Really?' She signed frantically. Kurloz nodded.

Kankri just sort of stood there blinking, like he hadn't actually heard anything our parents had said.

I looked back at the adults who were both looking very sheepish. My mom was frowning, her long, tightly curled hair was draped over her shoulders in a way I knew she didn't like. Mr. Vantas swallowed hard and looked over at her for help.

I very slowly realized he was more than just Mr. Vantas. He was my father. Father.

After years and years if asking. After years and years of my mom avoiding the question, my father was here, on a hot afternoon on the Fourth of July.

That sure was a thing just happened. I didn't know how to react.

It wasn't like I just decided to cry, but the tears just came. Fat drops of salt water rolled down my cheeks, and fell from my chin to the fabric of my shirt.

"Well, um," my sister began from over my shoulder. I didn't turn to look at her. "I think if it's time for you guys to come clean, it's time for us too."

"No," Kurloz groaned in his gravelly, slurred voice.

"I'm pregnant!" She spoke cheerfully, unable to hear her boyfriend. I could imagine her awkward smile and wringing nervous hands. I already knew about all that of course.

My mother blanched. "You what?"

I heard Kurloz groan.

"I'm sixteen weeks," she replied cheerfully.

"I'm sorry, Miss Leijon," Kurloz added mournfully. I bet his face was in his hands.

My mother stepped off the porch to fuss with Meulin. I registered her voice but I wasn't listening to what she was saying. I was too busy gazing through wet eyes up at Signless Vantas.

He was a hundred feet tall. He was looking down, watching me, and he cracked an awkward smile.

"Nepeta, are you alright?" He asked quietly, holding out a hand for mine. I thought maybe he might pull me into a hug or something if I took it. I didn't want to hug him. I was angry with him. Not as angry as Karkat, but very angry.

"I don't want you to touch me," I choked, and then I hiccuped hard and my shoulders shook with the first sob.

"Disciple," he called, frowning deeply. His unsure eyes flicked from me to my mother and then back to me.

"Signless, not now. Nepeta, I'm coming, just give me a minute," my mom replied, sounding deeply bothered and annoyed. I noted Meulin crying too, and then I decided Karkat had the right idea.

"I'm," I managed, "going to Equius's house."

"Disciple," Signless tried again, but she didn't reply. He reached out further, going for my arm, but I shook him off. I wanted him to get the fuck away from me as fast as possible. I didn't run like Karkat did, but I certainly walked out of there as fast as I could.

It was a pretty short walk next door to the Zahhak's house.

My best friend had lived next door to me for as long as we both could remember. I started out taller than him in preschool, and for years we'd been the same height, but now he was beginning to inch taller. Equius liked to wrench on cars, and that's where I found him, under his nineteen eighty four El Camino.

The garage door was open, and he was under the car, so I just stood in his driveway.

I remembered when he got this heap of rust for his birthday last year. He'd excellence in middle school junior auto shop, and so his father bought the blue vehicle for him. It didn't run, yet. The goal was his sixteenth birthday.

I tried really hard to be quiet, but I really couldn't. I hiccuped, just once, but it was loud.

Like a cartoon, Equius jolted, smacking his head on something with a loud clank and a groan.

"Nepeta? Is that you?" He exclaimed, rolling out from under the car on some skateboard looking thing, holding the goose egg firming on his head.

I laughed a little, unable to help myself, forcing tears down my cheeks.

"Are you crying?" He gushed, standing up to wipe the grease and sweat off of his face.

I nodded, wiping my own tears.

"Are you hurt?" He looked me over, frowning, "is this anything to do with the yelling?"

I didn't care if he was covered in oil or grease, or drenched in gasoline. I needed a good old fashioned best friend hug. I pressed my face into his shoulder and drew in a deep breath.

"Karkatsdadismydadandhisdadandnobodytoldanybodyand-" my words fell out of my mouth like running water. Like a dam broke and nothing could hold it back anymore.

"Nepeta, hush!" Equius scolded, "you must speak so I can understand."

I drew in another breath, exhaled slowly, and then inhaled again. "My mom told us that Karkat's dad is my dad. I'm just really, really sad. And angry."

"Come again?" he asked haughtily. Equius sort of always sounded deadpan. After puberty, his voice had ended up very monotone and it didn't waver much. He also had this sort of higher than thou way of speaking, I was used to it though. He smelled really strongly like sweat and anti-perspirant.

"Karkat's dad is my dad. Karkat and I are half siblings. They picked today to tell us."

My sentences felt like puke. Sort of like when somebody gets the flu, like when you try so hard to keep down the bile but you just retched and retched and throw up over and over again. Equius put an arm around around me, just under my shoulders and patted my back.

"While I cannot speak as to the reasonings why, I am sure… both of your parents have very good reasonings as to why this went on. However, their conduct was unacceptable and inexcusable."

"Yeah," I agreed. I didn't have much else to say.

"I don't suppose a movie would make it any better?

"Can we watch The Jungle Book?" I asked, giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

He huffed, rolling his eyes and smiling a little to create a look of strange contentment. "I suppose."

My smile rebounded. For as much as Equius hated Disney, he always kept a VHS copy of The Jungle Book from our childhood. He knew it was my favorite, once upon a time it was his favorite too.

"I'll require a shower," he huffed. Yeah. He did. I detached myself from him and we made our way into his house though the garage door.

Equius's dad was a dad to be jealous of. He might have been almost six foot tall and built like a brick wall, but he also cooked and kept their house clean. He was elbows deep in spaghetti salad when we entered the house.

"Afternoon, Nepeta," he greeted, smiling at me with crooked teeth. He was reserved, but never cold.

"Hi! Happy Fourth of July!" I returned his greeting, along with a hug.

"And what are you both up to today?" He inquired.

"Movie night!" I chirped. Equius rolled his eyes again.

For a moment he looked deep in thought. He was probably mulling over the argument he'd heard from my yard and then weighing the effects of it.

"Jungle book?" He asked. I smiled a little wider and nodded.

"Have fun. Dinner will be ready shortly if you are hungry."

I didn't tell him I'd already eaten. I just bid him goodbye for now and left with Equius for his room. He took clean cloths with him and left for the bathroom, instructing me to get the movie started.

His room was a mess of car parts and auto swappers. The desk that was meant for his projects was overflowing, and has spilled over to the floor. Mufflers sat on newspapers and the mirrors off the El Camino were submerged in a five gallon bucket of Cola, which apparently was great for stripping rust. Rags lay everywhere. A jug of oil was spilled and never mobbed up, staining is white carpet black in a large puddle in the center of the room. Equius had tried to move his bed to cover it, but only succeeded in cracking his bed frame.

I found the movie tape buried under a stack of dirty cloths. He had an old style box TV from the year our older siblings were born with a built in player, and I pushed the tape in.

I was meet with static on screen. I wasn't sure if it was the static on the beginning of the end, so I waited a moment to see. When the screen went blank I knew it was the end, so I hastily pressed the rewind button and proceded to watch the movie backwards at twice the speed. Once it was finished, it clicked and switched to play. I got up and hit the pause button.

Equius might take a while, so I decided to lay back on his bed. Sleep overs were always fun because his bed was twice the size of mine. His blue bedding smelled clean and his blankets were soft.

I was buried under his covers when my best friend entered the room, leaving the door open behind him. He'd put on his favorite MOPAR shirt and tied his hair back into a wet ponytail. Equius threw his dirty clothes into the pile and flipped the play button. He sat down on the bed next to me, leaning on the headboard.

The opening credits rolled and we settled in.

Bagheera the panther had just found the 'man cub' when my phone dinged with a text message.

From: Meulin :3 Message: Nepeta! Where are you? Timestamp: 7:45

To: Meulin :3 Message: Next door with equius Timestamp: 7:45

From: Meulin :3 Message: Ohh! Well, mom blew a gasket but she's okay now. Mr. Vantas, er, uh.. Anyway, he went home. Timestamp: 7:46

Equius looked over at me, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. I shifted, so he could see my phone so he could read it too.

To: Meulin :3 Message: Ohhhh! Well, uh, that's good, I guess. Timestamp: 7:47

From: Meulin :3 Message: Yeah! Timestamp: 7:47

From: Meulin :3 Message: But! Hey! Nothing's open but Kankri and Kurloz and I are going for a ride anyway. Do you wanna come? :3 Timestamp: 7:48

To: Meulin :3 Message: No, that's okay. I'm gonna stay with Equius. Timestamp: 7:49

From: Meulin :3 Message: Okay! Have fun sis! Timestamp: 7:50

I snuggled back down into the blankets and sighed, tossing my phone down by my feet. The switch from the hot outside to the chilling air condoning was a little much and I was still adjusting. Paired with the crying I'd done, my sinuses hurt.

"Equius, can I tell you something?" I asked. I felt like time restarted. Like 00:00 on the clock was the moment my mother confessed. Everything weighed so heavy, and it got heavier with every second that ticked by.

"You may," he chatted.

"I'm still pretty," I paused, thinking of the right word, "pretty aggravated over this whole thing with my mom and Mr. Vantas."

He hummed in response. I continued.

"I just feel like, if he was always there, why didn't he ever, like, do stuff with us? Like, okay, I get that he wanted to be careful around his wife, but she died a long time ago. Not even like, took all of us, you know, Kankri and Karkat and Meu and me, out and done something. My mom and him never got together, not until about a year ago. Signless hid it from all of us." And then I realized, "they both hid it. This feels wrong."

"You have not asked for my input, but I will give it if you would like," he stated plainly.

I nodded, snuggling a little closer to him.

"My parents divorced when we were very young. Obviously I have a mother, but I don't know her, much like you. I can sympathize with your anger. What you feel is valid," Equius paused for a moment, looked across me to glance out the window, and then returned his attention. "Nepeta, be angry. But give negative feelings a limited leash."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Are you saying I should just.. Be mad until I don't feel mad anymore? And then stop?"

"Precisely," he nodded.

I furrowed my eyebrows and set my jaw, mulling over his suggestion. That sounded… Reasonable. I guessed.

"Are you pouting?" He deadpanned.

"No!" I answered.

"Yes," he insisted.

"No!" I huffed, scrunching my nose and perusing my lips.

"Now you are."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Whatever." I pulled him even closer, slouching down to rest my head on his shoulder. He didn't move. On screen, Mowgli and Baloo the bear discussed the Bear Necessities of life through song, while Bagheera watched, as horrified as his little animated face could look. I loved the jungle. One day, I hoped I could see it first hand.

"You're my best friend, Equius."

"And you are mine, Nepeta."

* * *

ahh! Equius was really fun to write! He was fun to research too because other people's perceptions of him are a lot different than mine. Hes actually sort of shy, and hes not a big talker! I tried to make Nepeta less how the fandom perceives her (cute, childish) and more like a real, feeling person. This is a big deal! I guess we'll see how this whole thing pans out?


	13. Night Changes (DaveKarkat)

Enjoy!

Song for this chapter is Night Changes by one Direction.

* * *

This was probably the best Fourth of July we'd ever had.

Since Roxy decided to quit drinking, all her hangovers had dissolved into horrible withdrawal symptoms. Today though, I'd gotten her some ginger ale and she was doing pretty good with that and some watermelon.

Rose was herself. Rose could never be anybody but herself. She was like Dirk in that way. She tried to be all dark and broody, but she was sort of goofy when she wasn't acting like Edgar Allen Poe. She'd started today in the darkness of her bedroom, but now she was outside with the rest of us, laughing and playing with sparklers.

Jake English had been explicitly uninvited to our family Fourth of July party. Dirk was a bit forlorn about that, but it figured. Dad knew Dirk and Jake were dating. After he'd gotten over it though, Dirk had his shades on and a lighter in his hand, playing with firecrackers. He smiled wider than Kid with a mouth full of watermelon rind.

My dad was in rare form. In a good way. He acted like a dad.

He grilled hot dogs and corn on the grill, set out our picnic stuff and once it was done and over, sat back until it was time for fireworks. He was being so nice.

I felt like I was part of the cliche great American family, just lacking the mother.

My mother, my inebriated mother, was inside, and no one could coax her outside. I had no idea what she was doing in there.

"Dave!" My sister shouted, seconds before a water balloon pelted me in the face.

Rose laughed like a mad woman, Dirk standing behind her with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Aww, did Davey get his hair all wet?" Dirk mocked, holding up another balloon. He really back his arm to throw it, but he didn't get the chance. Roxy had snuck up behind him with the super soaker gun and hosed him down like a burning bra at a sixties peace rally.

"Now who's got wet hair?" My elder sister asked in a sing song voice. Dirk rolled his eyes and tried to use what little was left of his hair gel to fix his updo.

"I must admit, you have excellent aim Roxy," Rose grinned, still giggling a little. I knew she was planning something. Rose never complimented Roxy. Complimenting Roxy meant hugs, and Rose hated hugs.

"Do you really mean that, Rosey? You're sooo cute!" The super soaker was forgotten all of a sudden, tossed aside in favor of a sisterly embrace. Still grinning, Rose held her hand out and Dirk placed the water balloon he still held in her palm.

Before Rose could carry out her plan though, Roxy's hand moved, yanking Rose's shorts so far up her ass her wedgie had a wedgie.

Roxy pulled away laughing, dancing on her long legs over to me where she slung an arm around my shoulder and leaned on me like a door stop. "Had enough yet?"

"You wish," Dirk challenged.

I was sort of done with the whole water fight. It was getting dark and I wanted to start fireworks as soon as possible. Plus it was getting cold enough to turn my lips blue.

"Dirk!" My mother's voice cut the conversation. Both my dad and my brother looked in her direction.

"Dirk senior," mom corrected, smiling from the sliding door.

Dad got up from his seat at the picnic table and closed the door behind him. We watched them through the glass for just a moment. Mom was still smiling as she sloshed her drink around in her hand. Dad was about six inches taller than her, and he was looking down, smiling too.

My jaw almost dropped when he leaned down and kissed her. They both disappeared from view moments later.

"She just have signed the divorce papers for them both to be that happy," Dirk deadpanned.

"Dirk! Would you shut up!?" Roxy retorted, smacking her twin on the shoulder.

"Oww, why so hard?" Our brother whined.

Rose folded her arms, seemingly deep in thought. "Perhaps mother is having another baby?"

"Nah, she's on the pill," Roxy passed her off. Her comment earned a few concerned looks.

"What?" She asked, "don't tell me you've never seen her take them?"

That was more than I ever wanted to know about my mother. I stuck my tongue out.

"Maybe aunt Agatha is coming to visit?" I suggested.

Dirk pulled a face. "Dude, why would anyone be happy about that?"

I shrugged and shook the water out of my still dripping hair.

Dad appeared in the doorway about a minute later, and opened it, stepping to the side to let mom though. Pressed to the front of mom's white dress was this wiggling little creature, getting black hairs all over her.

"A puppy!" Roxy cried. She was nearly bouncing with joy. I could see Rose grinning too. Her and Dirk had the same smile as dad.

"Now be care- careful," our mother slurred, trying to sound serious, "he's jus' little."

"I told you, Dirk! I told you!" Roxy gushed, "I told you all we had to do was ask!"

Mom crossed the yard and allowed Roxy to scoop up the little pug from her arms. I kinda wondered if this was our parents way of congratulating Roxy on sobering up. The puppy squirmed, his smushed in face turning in every direction, panting and licking and eagerly meeting his new owners.

"Do we get to name him?" I asked, reaching over to scratch behind his ear.

Dad crossed the yard, standing next to mom and handing her back her drink. Mom took a sip before she answered. "You sure do, Sweetie."

"I suggest we name him Viceroy," Rose offered.

"That's too complicated, Rose," I smirked, reaching to scratch the puppy's little paw. "We should name him Jeff."

"That's dumb, Davey! We aren't naming him after your comic!" Roxy argued, "We should name him Frigglish!"

"You named the last cat," Rose huffed.

"Let's name him Hal," Dirk interjected finally. We all sort of exchanged glances. I still thought we should name him something ironic and funny but I guessed Hal was okay too. The debate was over just like that.

I whipped out my phone and took a picture of him, still wrapped in Roxy's arms. The flash bleached out the picture and made Hal's eyes glow, but I didn't care.

Behind our subdivision a firework went off, exploding in the air with a bang and a mass of color streaking across the sky. Hal turned and tapped excitedly, struggling to get out of Roxy's grip. It figures our dog would be the type to go after fireworks like an idiot instead of being afraid of them.

"My turn to hold the little dude," I insisted, moving to take him out of Roxy's arms. She handed him over and all of a sudden I had dog tongue all over my face.

My shades were smeared with spit but I didn't care. I was pretty sure his eyes were brown, but it was sort of hard to see behind my sunglasses though the dark. He made this little wheezing sound because of his smushed in face. It probably wasn't good, all that bad breeding and malformed muzzle junk, but I guessed it was kind of cute.

"Aw, man, this little guy is like hella adorable," I grinned, bouncing him a little in my arms.

Another firework went off, and Hal twisted in my arms to yap happily at it.

"That must be my cue to start the fireworks," Dirk grinned.

"You don't," mom hiccuped, "want to hold him, sweetie?"

"I will after. Gotta show up the neighbors first. Anyone seen my lighter?"

Dad drew his out of his pocket and tossed it to Dirk. We all sort of dispersed after that. Mom and dad went back to the picnic table. Dirk went to the garage and retrieved the brightly colored box of fireworks dad had spent way too much money on. I went with Rose and Roxy and let them sandwich me between them on the deck swing.

"My turn," Rose said, plucking Hal out of my arms shortly after we sat down.

"Your so grabby, you're practically of purse snatcher skill," I huffed. Rose hummed in agreement. I let her take him, because it wasn't like he'd gone very far.

Dirk lit the wick on the first firework, and it went screaming off into the air I was vaguely reminded of a certain shouty boyfriend of mine. I hadn't heard a peep from him all day. Strange. I guessed there was one way to remedy that.

"Dad, mom, can Karkat come over?" I shouted across the yard. I thought I had a pretty good chance of them saying yes. Dad didn't know Karkat and I were more than friends.

Mom's eyes never left her draining drink, so dad answered for her. "If his dad says it's alright."

I was pulling my phone out of my pocket in seconds, sending him a text message.

To: Vant-ass Message: hey, I don't know where your at but you could be at casa de strider here, holding the worlds cutest puppy. Timestamp: 9:45

I sent him the bad picture of Hal I'd taken earlier. He didn't reply right away.

"Hey, dad, could…" Dirk paused, half leaning down to light a firework with no flame to the lighter "could Jake come over?"

An unhappy look crossed Dad's face, but he did answer. "I suppose."

Rose perked up next to me, shifting Hal to her hip. "Dad?"

"Kanaya can too," he sighed. Before he knew it he'd have a yard full of gay teenagers. Rose handed Hal across my lap to Roxy so she could use her phone uninhibited. My phone binged with a message from Karkat.

From: Vant-ass Message: where the fuck did you get that thing? Timestamp:9:45

To: Vant-ass Message: mom brought him home. Best part of today was dad didn't fight her about him. Get your ass over here and pet him. Timestamp: 9:46

He didn't reply so I sent another message.

To: Vant-ass Message: come on roxys sober and dads being nice and dirk has fireworks hurry it up Timestamp: 9:47

That most have attracted his attention because he fired back fast.

To: Strider Message: keep your too tight hipster pants on! Jeez! Desperate much? Timestamp: 9:47

I laughed a little and got up from my spot. I walked through the house and went out the front door to wait for my boyfriend in the driveway. He must have really wanted to get out of the house, before it wasn't even a minute later I saw him walk out. I heard the door slam behind him. He must be pretty pissed.

As he got closer, I noticed how puffy his cheeks were and how red his eyes were. He was probably six foot from me when I noticed the tear tracks.

"Dude, you okay?" I asked.

He didn't say anything. He just opened his arms and hugged me, burying his face in my shoulder. He took a deep breath and I didn't know if it was to calm himself down or try to drink in the smell of my laundry soak and skin. I hugged him back, rubbing my hand on his lower back.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No. No, I never want to talk about it again," he replied, muffled into my shirt, "It's just a bunch of shit came up. My dad really fucked up this time."

"Are you hurt?" I quizzed, craning my neck to see if he was bruised or scraped.

"No. He didn't hit me. I just, I wouldnt, he never told me anything about my mom and he just, hides everything. I," Karkat drew in a another, sharper breath, " I hate him."

"Well, the only Mr. Vantas here is you, so no worries."

He laughed a little and his lips pressed gently on my jawline, right under my ear. "Thanks Strider. Now," he continued in his normal, grouchy tone, "I was promised fireworks and a puppy, where are they?"

I jutted my thumb over my shoulder, behind me. "Back yard."

We couldn't hold hands, or even lace our pinkie fingers, but we could sit next to each other on the edge of the deck. Kanaya showed up next, and let herself in through the front door. Jake, unsurprisingly, jumped the back fence like a god damn heathen instead of using the fucking gate. That kind of pissed my dad off, but Jake didn't care. Once Dirk had his boyfriend, the fireworks resumed.

Dirk and Jake both took turns with the lighter, sending explosions off into the sky. I got flashbacks from my past freshman science class. Lithium carbonate blew itself into red streaks across the sky. Sodium chloride painted yellow hues in to the navy blackness above.

I watched Dirk put his hand around Jake's hip, both laughing like dorks at some inside joke only they understood.

"What do you think Schrodinger's IT support is up to?" Karkat asked. He didn't look away from Dirk and Jake. He wanted that kind of intimacy too.

"Sollux? That douche is probably with his brother and Terezi's sister," I answered. So, I actually kind of liked Sollux. Between both of Karkat's other friends, him and Gamzee, I'd take Sollux any day.

"We should all do something together. All of us," he muttered. He looked up,at the sky, and his eyes lingered longer than the firework.

"Invite Terezi?" It wasn't a suggestion, I'd just left the 'are you inviting our once close friend who we've accidentally isolated because you liked her too and now we don't speak' as implied.

"I really fucked it up with her," he sighed.

"We both did. You live and you learn, man," I tried to comfort him. "She'll get over it."

"She hasn't spoken to me since," he huffed, crossing his arms.

I sighed, flipped my hair out of my eyes, and then reached over to hold his hand. His palms were clammy and his fingers were sort of trembling. He felt really, really bad.

"We'll figure out a way to make it up to her, dude," I offered. He just nodded and squeezed my hand.

I cared about Terezi a lot. The three of us used to be inseparable. It was weird to just have him and not her. It was weird to text her and never gain any ground. She wasn't speaking to me either.

I wasn't sure if I should take this romance thing and run with it or apologize profusely to both of them. Haha, funny joke Dave. You're the biggest asshole on the planet. Time to give it up now, and stop leading people on. Karkat thinks your serious and Terezi didn't think it was funny.

Except it wasn't a joke, and I was really sitting here, watching fireworks with my boyfriend. My boyfriend who I am totally serious about and Terezi still didn't think it was funny. Dirk twisted the wick on two fireworks, shooting them off together into the sky where they exploded with a boom and a long crackle of blues and reds. I squeezed Karkat's hand.

This wasn't a joke, and I was sort of glad.


	14. Four, Three, Two (Feferi)

I awoke bright and early on a beautiful Saturday morning to the sun shining in my window. Stretching, I practically sprung out of bed to get dressed for the day. Mornings were my favorite, and I had a lot to do before noon!

My mom washed my favorite pair of shorts for me, and that about made my day. I pulled last year's pink volleyball t-shirt out of my closet to go with them. I liked it so much because I'd stayed up one night with the rest of the team and cut the sides apart before retying them like a no sew blanket. It had a lot of good memories!

I could hear my sister on the other side if the wall, thumping around in her mess of a room. She usually didn't get up until noon, so I thought it a bit strange, but I didn't question it. I thoroughly checked my fish tanks before I left my room, giving each one of my five tanks a healthy sprinkling of food.

My room was directly across from the bathroom, and seeing it was unoccupied, I let myself in.

I went right for the sink, pulling my hair brush out of the drawer to try to tame my frizzy hair. In the end, I decided it was easier to just throw it up in a cute, messy bun and call it good. Anything was better than it sticking to my neck and making me sweat. I went for my toothbrush next.

My hand froze over the sink, confused. We had a little toothbrush holder shaped like a seahorse in the bathroom Meenah and I shared. There was Meenah's gold handled toothbrush, and my pink one, but there was also an unwelcome third resting in the cup.

"Meenah?" I called though the house, "Who's toothbrush is this?"

In my peripheral vision, I saw Meenah's door slam open. My head jerked that way just in time to scramble away from her as she lunged at me. Unfortunately, I was cornered in the small space, and the second time she grabbed for me, she had me.

"Get off of me!" I screamed and tried in vain to jerk away. Why did she always have to be so grabby?

"Fef! Shh! You gotta be quiet!" My sister hushed urgently, clamping a hand over my mouth. She had my upper arm in a death grip in her opposite hand.

"Why should I?" I demanded, muffled behind her hand. "Get away from me!"

"Look, it's Vriska's toothbrush, okay? I let her stay over sometimes and I sneak her back out in the morning. You got me, just keep it down!" Meenah was pleading with me, or the closest to pleading I was ever gonna get. She took her hand away from my mouth. "She hasn't left yet, and moms awake. Please."

She still hadn't let go of me. Behind her, I noticed a black blob of long hair slinking around in her bedroom. I narrowed my eyes.

"That's disgusting, Meenah," I spat. Seriously, she was like, almost eighteen, and Vriska was my age.

Her eyes went wide. "You got it all wrong, Fef! She just sleeps here, we don't do nothin' else."

Slowly, she released her grip on my arm. I couldn't peg the look on her face. Insecurity?

"I should scream for mom right now," I countered.

"No, no, no!" She urged, "what do you want? Take it, take whatever you want."

I supposed my silence could be bribed. I thought about taking her salt water tank and all its fish, I thought about taking her plug in air freshener I liked, or, I could be really mean, and take her favorite shoes. No, I decided, not today.

"I want you to drive me to the mall."

"That's it?"

I nodded.

She put her palm to her forehead and exhaled loudly. "That's really all you want?"

"And I want you to buy me a slushie," I added.

"Deal," she nodded, and then hurried back to her room and shut the door.

I rolled my eyes and finally got back to my morning routine. I brushed my teeth, put on my make up, and said goodbye to my mother before I walked over to my best friend's house.

Sollux only lived across the cul-de-sac from me, and it was a short walk. The air was still crisp. The grass was still wet with dew. It hadn't even begun to get hot yet. I knocked twice on the Captor house door.

Moments later Sollux opened the door, looking quite apathetic. He was still in his pajamas.

Right away, sound flooded out of the house.

"Mituna! This is the last time I am going to tell you!" Sollux's dad shouted.

"Fuck off!" The older Captor child hollered back.

"Good morning," Sollux greeted half heartedly.

"Good morning!" I grinned, wrapping him in a quick hug.

"We've started our morning argument without you," he replied sarcastically. He stepped to the side and I entered the house.

"Don't swear at me!" Mr. Captor asserted, "and pick up your goddamn socks!"

"Why can't you and your f-fine motor skill-skill-skills, aw fuck, fuck, fucking fuck," Mituna argued before he splintered off into a cursing fit.

I followed Sollux to the dining room where he had cereal and the milk sat out. I helped myself to a bowl from the kitchen and sat down next to him for breakfast. Sollux was half eating, half tinkering with some sort of circuit board. The Captor house was always littered with all sorts of computer parts. Monitors, towers, CD drives. All mostly on the floor. Sollux's dad worked on computers too, but Sollux was the gifted one. He was some kind of kid genius. I wished I was that smart too.

"Your over here awful early," he remarked, shoving another spoon of Cheerios in his mouth.

"Meenah and I had a um, disagreement. But I won," I smiled proudly, "she's taking me to that mall later!"

Sollux scoffed, as if my 'disagreement' was any worse than his. "That's all you athked for? The mall? You thould have took her shoes."

Something in the other room crashed and Mr. Captor's voice sounded threatening. "Mituna, I'm warning you!"

Sollux ignored the outburst in favor of asking a question. "What was your disagreement over?"

"Oh, uh, well, I'm not supposed to tell!" I giggled, but I'd tell anyway, "you know how her and Vriska Serket are a weird, gross, nasty, _thing_?"

He nodded, reaching for a smaller screwdriver.

"I guess, unbeknown to the rest of us, Vriska sleeps over at my house," I finished.

"Ew," he muttered, wrinkling his nose.

"I know right?" I chatted, "she claims she's not doing anything, ugh, nasty, but It doesn't matter. She can ruin her life however she wants."

"You're the only person I know that could thay thomething tho condescending in a cheerful tone and get away with it," he smirked, never looking up from his project.

"What are you working on?" I inquired.

"Oh, juth a fried circuit. Thupid thing," he responded.

Mituna picked right then to walk in, half swaying his way to the kitchen to grab a bowl in unsteady hands. I'd always thought Mituna was attractive, not in a crush way, but more like an aesthetic-y way. He flipped his hair out of his eyes and a few of the scars on his forehead showed. I watched him pour a bowl only half full of cereal, with only a splash of milk. He took it with him back to the other room. I was surprised he didn't spill any of it.

Sollux hesitated a minute, hands still, before he shouted through the house. "Tuna! You ignored Feferi. What, are you blind now too?"

"Get off my ass!" He spat back. "Hullo, Fef-er, fef, Fucking shit. Eat my dick!"

Sollux rolled his eyes and went back to working. I fished my phone out of my pocket after finished my bowl. Mr. Captor passed though, carrying a coffee mug. He greeted me, and when he went back the other way, he was carrying two coffee mugs. I supposed he was going to shut himself in his 'office' in the garage.

"I have a question for you," Sollux began after a while. I looked up from my phone.

"What's that?"

He turned and looked behind him, pausing for a moment. Mituna had a game on in the living room, and that was the only other sound. He frowned deeply, got up, and turned the air condoned on. It rumbled to life, adding more noise. When he sat back down, he was giving the table a pretty harsh look.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"FF, you like me right?" He countered.

"Of course!" I assured him. He'd very clearly just had one of his famous mood swing and I wasn't sure how to proceed.

When he looked up at me, he was searching for something.

"Sollux, are you okay?" I repeated.

"You don't, like, 'like' like me though, right? You just like me ath a friend?"

I was a bit taken back by that. I didn't know what the right answer to that question was. The wrong answer might set him off. I must have been pulling a face because his gaze shifted to the floor and he put his head in his hands, groaning.

I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Of course I like you as a friend Sollux. What's wrong?"

"Thank God," he muttered into his hands and sighed. Finally he looked up at me again. "I'm thorry, that was thitty of me. What else would you expect from a thit person?"

"No, no, Sollux," I grinned a little wider, "it wasn't shitty. You're okay. And what did I say about putting yourself down? C'mon, what's the real problem here?"

"The problem is I'm fucked up jerk, but then again, I'm not the only one in this house," he huffed.

I furrowed my eyebrows, puzzling though his words. This was something about Mituna? Maybe?

"I've had the weirdeth crush on Latula for years," he confessed, and it hurt his pride to say it. "But I think maybe I like Terezi just as much. More."

Oh. The light flicked on. I spent the Fourth of July with my sister, mother, and cousins Jane and John. Meanwhile, Sollux had spent it at the lake with his brother and the Pyrope sisters. Ohhh.

"You should go for it, Sollux," I encouraged cheerfully, "you really should!"

"I'm not cut out for thith," he lisped, unable to meet my gaze.

"You should chase things that make you happy," I grinned, nodding, hoping he'd go along. He didn't respond. I thought maybe he was getting a migraine by the look on his face. His temples grew taut, and his jaw set. He was very clearly very uncomfortable.

"Headache?" I questioned sympathetically.

"Yeah," he agreed.

I got up, pulled the extra strength pain killers out of his medicine cabinet and set them down next to him. He needed to rest, and he couldn't rest with me here. He needed to go someplace dark, and quiet.

"Not that I don't one hundred percent care about the issue at hand here, but you should take it easy." I tried to speak evenly, knowing volume would only hurt him.

"Yeah. Thanks, FF," he muttered, uncapping the medicine bottle, "I know I thaid I'd hang out today, but I'm not tho up to it now. Thorry."

"That's okay, we have all summer!" I patted his shoulder gently. He swallowed the pills dry, but I knew they'd only do so much for his head. "Text me if you need anything, okay?"

I showed myself the door as my best friend slumped over his dining room table. This unexpected turn of events had certainly threw a wrench in my plans. Standing on his doorstep, I realized all of the stuff I wanted to do today hinged on Sollux. I didn't really have anyone else to hang out with. I decided to head home.

My mom was in our kitchen, baking a cake when I arrived. Out our back door, I could see Vriska trying to lower herself down off of our morning glory trellis, and she was doing a bad job of it. I talked with mom a while, hoping to keep her attention so she wouldn't turn around. Finally, Vriska fell flat on her ass. I could hear her curse though the wall. Fortunately for her, mom had not. Rubbing her behind, she limped out of sight, probably hopping our back fence to head home.

Meenah joined us after all the hubblub.

"Bout time you got outta bed," my mom snarked, slinging the cake pan into the oven.

"Yeah, well," Meenah replied loftily, pulling a can of pop out of the fridge.

"She's taking me to the mall today," I chirped, jumping up to sit on the kitchen counter.

"Today?" Meenah mocked and the same time our mom said "That's nice of you, Meenah."

"Oh, right, that was today," Meenah quickly covered her own ass. "Lets hit it then, Tunafish."

It took me a moment to realize who she was speaking to. She hadn't called me Tunafish since, well, I was little. I smiled and jumped off the counter.

"Need money?" Mom asked.

"We're good, I got cash," Meenah rejected, picking up her purse and handed me mine. She picked up her car keys next. We shut ourselves in Meenah's black car, and rolled the windows down immediately to combat the heat inside. The floor was covered in McDonald's bags and her upholstery was a little sticky, but she was a pretty safe driver. If you covered your eyes.

"You wanna go to Sunset or Winterbrook mall?" My sister asked, clicking her seatbelt and starting the car.

"Oh, probably Winterbrook," I grinned. "Can we stop at the pet store on the way back? I need fish food."

"Me too. I was thinking about splitting my saltwater tank, and then putting living coral in one side," she chatted, watching behind her as she backed out.

"That would be so cool! The fish would just love it. Did you plan on getting more fish too?"

She wheeled around and stepped on the gas before responding. "I dunno. I dunno what kind of fish I want. I wish there was somewhere I could go to see the fish in real life without being accosted by fuckin' employees." She scoffed. "Like, I know how to cycle my tank, bud. I know you can't keep a school of tangs in a five gallon. Back off."

"Oh! Yeah! 'Excuse me miss, did you know betta fish must be kept by themselves?'" I asked, mocking an employee from when I'd purchased my Crowntail.

Meenah outright laughed.

"I bet an aquarium would have a bunch of fish to look at," I offered, "we could go there instead."

"An aquarium? As in, like, the one up in Birch Run?" She clarified, eyeing another car as she made a right hand turn and merged in to another lane.

"Yeah! Exactly that one!" I agreed.

"Jeez, I ain't been there in years. Hold old were you last time we went? Your, what, almost fifteen?"

I thought for a moment. My dad had still been around then. "I think I was seven? Eight?"

"Well shit, Fef!" Meenah jerked the steering wheel around, doing a straight up illegal U turn in four lanes of traffic. My eyes went wide as I clutched the door frame for safety. Horns blared all around us. "Aquarium it is!"

"O-okay," I muttered, looking behind us in the rear view mirror. Two car had swerved off to the shoulder of the road and one man was out of his truck, angrily shaking his first at us.

I really hoped we'd make it there in one piece.


	15. Can't Be Blamed (JaneGamzee)

Say, Abby? Where have you been not updating your fanfictions? Well, I'll tell you. I spent three weeks getting ready for the county fair and then got stranded in Chicago. I've had a super busy month. I didn't get anything spectacular at fair, no grand champions, but I had a lot of fun.

 _I'm going to start taking prompt requests for this story. No more pairings please, I have a ton that's got requested, but if you have an idea you want me to write, run it by me._

* * *

I'd probably just left the worst party in the history of the universe.

I'd been invited by a mutual friend to a graduation party for a neighbor, Kurloz Makara. I'd been invited not by Kurloz himself, but by Callie, a friend of his younger brother. Callie's brother had bailed on her, so she asked me to tag along.

Of course I'd said yes. Who could say no to Callie?

How I'd ended up driving my dad's station wagon to the hospital though, that was another thing all its own.

One minute I was eating horrible potato salad at a festively decorated plastic table, and the next I was speeding down the highway.

In my passenger seat was Kurloz. In the backseat was Callie, trying her hardest to keep blood off of the upholstery. The source of the blood was none other than the younger Makara brother, Callie's friend, Gamzee. Gamzee cradled his sliced open hand, it very clearly needed stitches.

I wasn't even sure how I'd been the one to end up driving.

Kurloz's car was boxed in, his father had run to the store to get ice, and well, I guess I'd had my car keys on me, hadn't I?

Kurloz was pulling his health insurance card out of his wallet as I changed lanes, grumbling to himself. I couldn't understand a word he was saying.

I hoped no cops saw me. Just thinking about getting stopped was giving me anxiety.

Thank gosh the hospital was only fifteen minutes away. I let Gamzee and Callie out at the door, and expected Kurloz to bail with them, but he just waved me on. I continued on to park, confused.

I ended up in the drab, grey parking ramp across the street. I bailed out as quickly as I could, but Kurloz was moving much, much slower. I couldn't help but wonder what his deal was. His brother was practically bleeding out, and slugs were passing this guy by!

I stood near the end of my car, looking back at him. He had the passenger door open, his black vans on the ground, but he was still sitting in the seat.

"Jane, right?" He asked, turning to me.

That was my name, yes. "Yeah."

"I need you to call my dad," he spoke, and I almost couldn't understand him. He pulled out his cell phone, unlocked it, and messed around on it for just a moment. Er, okay? Why me? When he handed it to me, it was ringing.

"Kurloz, where the fuck are you?" His father's voice barked, "where the fuck is your brother?"

"Uh, hi, uh, Mr. Makara," I stammered, "this is Jane Crocker, your neighbor? I drove Kurloz and Gamzee to the emergency room at Mercy. I hope that's alright?"

"I'll be right there!" He growled, and then the phone clicked. He'd hung up without any warning. Rude.

"Here," I smiled awkwardly, handing him back his phone.

"Thanks. He can't understand me over the phone," Kurloz replied. "Meulin isn't too good with phones either."

"Oh, don't worry about it," I assured, trying to move him along. I supposed that made sense.

He was following me, but slowly. I thought with those long legs of his I'd be struggling to keep up. Kurloz had to be like six foot, maybe taller. I felt like a pixie, at only five two, dancing around a giant.

We crossed the road and entered the emergency room just in time to join Gamzee and Callie as a nurse ushered them into a room. Callie handed Kurloz a clipboard, probably asking for insurance and medical history. Kurloz groaned.

"I'll hang back," he huffed. I, again, almost couldn't understand him.

I felt really awkward, and unsure what I should be doing. I didn't really know Kurloz enough to stay with him, and I wasn't sure if following Gamzee back to get stitches was a wise choice. Callie was going though, and I knew her pretty well. I supposed I should just do what she was doing.

The nurse instructed Callie and I to drag two chairs into the room while she looked Gamzee over. When we returned, she was asking him the dreaded "how did this happen?"

"Well uh," Gamzee muttered, "I was trying to cut an apple in half."

"With a knife?" The nurse questioned.

"A spoon," he replied, looking sheepish.

The nurse looked skeptical. "I'll be back to give you some local, and then a doctor will fix up your palm. Keep pressure on it."

And then she was gone, whisking out of the room.

I shifted uncomfortably in the silence that fallowed.

"I think I'll have to excuse myself," Callie spoke, thankfully. "I can't stand needles."

Callie was very obviously not from around here. Her cloths were a bit different, and English was clearly not her first language. She spoke with an accident, but she was touchy about where it came from. Eastern Europe best I could peg.

"Don't sweat it," a Gamzee passed her off with a lopsided grin. With his blessing she excused herself from the room.

All of a sudden I was alone with somebody I barely knew, in a hospital. I always thought medical emergencies like this were only for people extremely close to you.

"I hope uh, it doesn't hurt too bad?" I inquired, trying a little too hard not to make things awkward. Everything with the Makara's was always awkward. It was a curse.

"Shit sister, I'm higher than a mother fuckin kite, don't worry," Gamzee chuckled, glancing blankly down at his hand.

Well, at least he was being honest.

Just as long as they didn't drug test him.

The nurse returned with the local anesthetic a few minutes later. Gamzee's hand was still leaking like a faucet. I had to look away from the whole thing. My shoes were so much more interesting than a woman sticking a needle in a pile of flesh that looked like a ripped cake box.

The doctor saw him next, and with him he brought a bottle of glue. Instead of using staples or that medical thread stuff, he just glued Gamzee's hand back together. No fuss.

We, er, maybe just Gamzee, was waiting on discharge papers when his father arrived. Highblood Makara was a big man, with big shoulders and thick arms. He had the same wild hair as his sons, but his jaw structure was entirely different. He looked ragged, hard and unapproachable with his outraged glare. The thick, choking scent of cigarettes followed him in.

"Gamzee, god damn it!" The mountain of a man roared. Gamzee visibly tensed. He earned some distrusting looks from the nurse.

"I swear to the Messiah, kid, you're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!" His father practically shouted.

Gamzee didn't give any indication of being afraid, but he was certainly braced to get screamed at. "Sorry pops."

"Your ass can be sorry at home. Let's go, your brother took care of the paperwork," Mr. Makara commanded. "Trying to host a goddamn party for your irresponsible ass brother and then you all up and get hurt."

"Hold on just a minute!" The nurse called, still seated at her desk, "he can't leave yet! He needs a tetanus shot."

"Horse shit," Mr. Makara spat, "I'm his dad. You can't bar me from him."

"His brother checked him in," she said very matter of factly, standing up to face him, "he has to wait until discharge or his brother has to check him out."

"I'm his mother fucking legal guardian! I have shit to do!" Mr. Makara countered, loudly.

"I'm required by law to see that all minors get the care they need! Now sit down, sir, or I'll be forced to call security!"

"Mr. Makara," I tried hesitantly. I wanted to try to defuse the situation best I could.

When he looked down at me, I could tell Mr. Makara hadn't even known I was there. "What?"

"If you like, um, if you need to leave, I could bring Gamzee home," I offered.

"You drive?" He asked redundantly. I nodded.

"Yeah sure," he agreed, begrudgingly. "I gotta get Kurloz back, and Callie's mom's been assing me to get her home."

He just sort of stood there, until I affirmed with a short "okay" that this plan was, in fact, a good one. Mr. Makara seemed sort of placid after that. It was actually kind of sad. He left, muttering profanities to himself on his way back to collect Callie and Kurloz from the waiting room in emergency.

The nurse was still looking at us, her head supported on one hand. Her scrubs were an eye catching combination of blue green and yellow, stacked on top of each other in broad bands. She wore a hijab, a bright, contrasting pink. She got up, a paper in one hand and joined us once more in the room.

"Listen," she began, gently, "I'm supposed to report any sign of child abuse I see to the authorities. Be straight with me here, did you really do that with a spoon?"

Gamzee didn't crack a smile or laugh, he just sort of sat, letting her words smack him in the face. I'd watched him cut himself, so I knew the truth, but this wasn't my conversation to finish.

"Yeah I did it myself," a Gamzee agreed, finally.

The nurse, her name tag read Ms. Paint, gave him a hard, untrusting look. She held it for a few moments before sighing, exasperated. She held the paper out to him.

"If you need something, you call me. Alright?"

Gamzee took it, but he didn't reply.

Ms. Paint left immediately after that, and returned with the aforementioned tetanus shot. She administered it and stated she was going to process Gamzee's paperwork next. When she returned a half an hour later, she told us we were free to go.

I kept a close eye on Gamzee as we walked back to the car.

This Gamzee was so different from the one I'd meet at the party. He'd been so happy, and he smiled a lot. He had this sort of off brand humor, a lazy way about him that was always accompanied by a lopsided grin. I watched him climb stairs in the parking garage now. His shoulders were squared and his eyes were focused. He didn't speak and he held a very serious expression on his face.

"Are you alright? Does your hand hurt?" I inquired, sliding into the station wagon's driver's seat as he climbed in on the passenger side.

"No, it don't hurt none. I guess I just kinda sobered up," he mumbled.

"Oh," I replied. I wasn't sure what else to say exactly.

"I'm just so," he paused, mid sentence, and when he continued, he'd cranked the volume until he was shouting. "What the mother fuck does that mother fucker think this is? The mother fucking Mirthful Messiahs be damned, I'm hurt, and all that shitbag can say is he's 'got shit to do?' What the fuck?"

I stuck a finger in my ear, trying to chase away the ringing he'd just caused. Gamzee put his head in his hands. I supposed I understood now why he got high all the time.

"I know it probably won't make it any better, but what do you say we go to my house and I'll make us a cake?" I offered. "It'll get your mind off of it."

"You like to bake?" He asked, looking up at me and brushing his hair out of his face.

I nodded. "Sure as sugar!"

He cracked this strange half smile, showing too much teeth and too much malice. "So do I."

He was a bit unnerving, but I guessed if he wasn't screaming that was a good sign.

I started the car and backed out, carefully navigating the cramped parking ramp to the street. From there I traveled back to the highway and rode us home. My driveway had never looked so welcoming.

My front door was unlocked seeing as my dad was home. It was hot this afternoon in mid-July. We dashed from the air conditioned car to my air conditioned house in record time.

"Hi dad!" I greeted right away, before I'd even shut the front door. Dad was always home all day on Saturday. He did housework in the morning, but by noon he was sitting in his chair in our living room, reading the paper or clipping coupons.

"Hello Jane," he greeted, welcoming and warm. His gaze shifted to Gamzee, and he almost did a double take.

"Gamzee, isn't it?" He asked, clearing his throat before speaking.

I thought maybe the look on his face was malcontent, but then I realized it was surprise.

"That's me," Gamzee agreed.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. We live in the same neighborhood, but I don't believe we've ever spoken," my father chatted.

"We're gonna bust out the Crocker family cookbook and make a cake, is that alright with you dad?" I interjected, cutting the casual conversation short. By now I was raring to go and almost pushing Gamzee into the kitchen.

"I suppose, yes, but-"

"Thanks dad, see you!" I said in a hurry, and I shut the kitchen door behind us.

The Crocker family cook book originated as a spiral bound notebook, bought for a penny in the thirties. It's been rebound, laminated, taped, glued and added to so many times it was impossible to know where the original stopped and the add ins started. I pulled it out of its hiding place in our kitchen drawer and slapped it on to the table, faded cover and all.

"Go ahead and pick!" I urged, pushing it in his direction.

Gamzee pulled it in front of him, careful of the ancient pages and began leafing through it.

"My great grandma Betty started this cookbook when she was in her twenties, and it's traveled through the whole family until it got to my dad," I explained, beaming with pride over the family heirloom. "He's gonna leave it to me, so I can pass it to my kids."

He nodded, looking thoughtfully at the cook book before he paused, and turned it my way. "This one good with you?"

"Golly gosh yes!" I exclaimed, "German chocolate is my favorite!"

The smudged ink had specific instructions and measurements on how to make Great Grandma Betty's cake. I fished a mixing bowl out of the cupboard and set to work. As I grabbed the ingredients, Gamzee measured them out.

The recipe was a laundry list. It needed salt, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, a cup of buttermilk, four separated eggs, five egg yolks, two and a half cups of flaked coconut, and almost two hours to make.

When we were done though, and the cake was frosted and decorated, it was all worth it.

We cut the cake and dished ourselves out two huge slices, ready to taste our hard work.

Gamzee was back to himself. He grinned as he popped another bite into his mouth. His posture was relaxed once again. I noticed his eyelids still drooped despite his drugs having worn off long ago.

"You know how to make a mean cake, sister," my newfound friend complimented.

"Oh shucks, you were the one putting it all together," I giggled.

He chuckled, deep and rumbly in his throat. I watched as his eye caught something.

"Hold still," he muttered, "you got something right," he paused to lick his thumb, and then used it to scrub a little spot of something, probably frosting, off my cheek.

"Got it," he grinned.

I flushed, and I'm sure I went all doe eyed. Heat crept up my cheeks and on to the tips of my ears, my skin reddening. My heart sped up.

I watched him have a similar reaction. His eyebrows raised and his shoulders squared, drawing back with a blush dusting across his features.

Oh shit, I realized, he's hot.

"Thank you," I managed.

"Noproblem," he replied, his words running together.

I watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. He leaned closer to me, I leaned closer to him.

He was going to kiss me, wasn't he? No. He couldn't. Impossible. My mind was running away with me. We were only a few inches apart and I still couldn't figure out what he was up to. Was this some strange joke? I could think of so many pranks to pull on him, I-

His lips brushed mine gently. He pulled away, almost chickening out. He forced himself back though, to kiss me again, smashing us together with a little more strength than needed. It still felt like I was coming up roses.

I was light headed. His lips were wet. I could taste chocolate.

I realized as he pulled away that I'd forgotten to close my eyes. We were both panting from the sheer excitement of it all.

"Shit, sister," he muttered, " _Jane._ I'm so sorry."

"That was my first kiss," I babbled.

"Shit, fuck, I'm sorry. I didn't even ask ya for it. I hope I didn't disappoint. Fuck," he swore, his breath ghosting warm over my skin.

"Oh, oh my god no, you couldn't have, er, you didn't uh," I stammered. "I wouldn't mind if you were my second kiss."

I slapped my hand over my mouth. Gosh darn it!

He chuckled, deep and throaty, in a way that made me weak in the knees.

"Jane!" My father's voice cut the air like a bullhorn, effectively ripping us apart to sit ridged on our chairs. We probably looked like a couple of red handed crooks.

My dad barged in the room without even pausing to look us over.

"Cake looks good," he commended, grabbing a slice for himself. "Your brother will be home soon, I'm sure he'll want some. Are you two alright?"

"Fine!" I spit out in a hurry.

"She was just about to walk me home," Gamzee added, skidding out of his chair. He didn't push it in like I did when I rose.

We didn't say much of a goodbye to my dad, we mostly just rushed out the door. I'd probably be interrogated about it later, but right now I didn't care.

Right now, I was running across the blacktop, across the street with a guy I maybe sorta liked as more than a friend.

* * *

-incoherent screaming- crack ship, crack ship, crack ship! I got so excited when I decided to write this so fuckin d. Gamzee is a horrible piece of shit in canon but this is my au so I can throw canon to the wind! Jane is underrated. I'm not even guilty about this ship, not even. It's good in all The Bad Ways™.

So it was hard to write sober!Gamzee because I couldn't really do that in a way that was believable and wouldnt center the plot about this single manic outburst that would probably scare Jane off. She's skeptical about everything, she doesn't need a reason to dislike Gamzee.

Instead I changed sober!Gamzee from an explosive murderous maniac to a kid who, when the drugs wear off, starts feeling more than one emotion.

I didn't do Jane well justice here. I traded her feeling for plot development, and I'm sort of angry I did that. I think it would have framed her character a lot better.


	16. Cool For The Summer (JadeCallie)

The Harley family wasn't known for being the typical suburban family. Our house was the only one on the block that was different. Our house was also the only house that routinely needed a house sitter. Weekend camping trips were by far my favorite part of the summer. My grandpa loaded the truck up with trunks and bags and boxes of camping gear and drove us out into the woods for three whole days of family fun.

Grandpa always drove, and my cousin Jake always rode shotgun, holding the map. No GPS systems allowed, not even our phones! Grandpa wasn't a big fan of technology, other than guns. I usually rode in the cramped back seat with my dog Bec, but today he'd been expelled to the back. We had a guest this weekend, my friend Callie!

I'd brought along an armful of games for the ride, but a length of string had amused is for most of it. I taught Callie to play cat's cradle! She took to it right away but as the day got longer we'd lost interest. Three hours was just too long!

Grandpa and Jake bickered a lot. Over speed limits and road signs mostly. As we got closer to the campground, the chattering increased. Grandpa had a bit of a lead foot when he got excited.

"We're here!" I exclaimed as the sign came into view. A smile crept onto my grandfather's face. The car sped up.

"Now grandpa," Jake began condescendingly.

"Oh, dear, what was that Jake?" My grandpa asked, rolling his window down, "I can't hear you over the wind, chap!"

"Grandpa! You're going to get us kicked out! Again!" Jake argued. My grandpa was not hard of hearing, and Jake was easily understood wind or not.

"You'll have to speak up, son!" Grandpa shouted, "I didn't catch that!"

"Why do I even bother?" Jake sighed, exasperated as the car blasted past the front gate much to the confusion of the ranger.

"Is this quite normal, Jade?" Callie asked, looking worriedly between the rapidly passing scenery and my quarreling family.

"The speeding or the banter?" I joked, laughing nervously. "Yeah, no uh, it's normal."

"We're set to have a jolly good time!" My grandpa added. "Oh, hold on!"

"Hold on to-" Callie didn't get a chance to finish.

The paved road abruptly stopped, spitting us out on a gravel road headed up the mountain. The jarring of the truck sent all of us scrambling for the door panels, searching for something, anything to grab onto.

I watched Callie's eyes go wide and Jake swore. Grandpa threw caution to the wind and laughed, yanking the wheel to the right as the truck veered off the gravel road onto a two tracker.

"Becquerel is in the back, grandad!" Jake shouted. "Slow down!"

"He's strapped down!"

From what I could see of the speedometer, which wasn't much, we were going at least fifty. We hit pothole after pot joke, gravel flying and tires spinning. Callie hadn't begun to relax, and I thought she might actually bail on us. If she did I wouldn't blame her. I'd tucked and rolled out of this truck many times.

The vehicle came to an abrupt, squealing, tire screeching, jarring stop at the campsite. My torso strained against the seat belt as it flung me foreword. My head felt like it'd nearly come off.

"Oh!" Callie uttered, taking a long, deep breath.

I didn't get a word in.

My grandpa flung the driver's side door open, springing out of his seat. The truck was still running, and it began to roll forward until Jake hastily reached over and yanked the parking brake.

"I'm off!" He exclaimed, pulling his personal rifle from his not so secret hiding spot under the seat.

"Don't shoot anything out of season!" I called after him, but I didn't think he heard me. He was already dashing off into the wood, gun at the ready.

"He's," Callie paused, clearing her throat, "quite spry for a man, um, his age."

"He's an eccentric old bugger is what he is," Jake huffed. "Leaves us to unpack all his junk."

"Come on, Jake, you know you like to set up the tents!" I smirked, opening my door and sliding out. Callie followed after me.

Jake shot me a look as he turned the truck off. "I hate tents."

I laughed and jumped up into the back of the truck, using the tire as a step. My dog Bec was situated in a covered cage up near the cab. I undid a few of the straps holding his crate in place and pulled back the canvas. Bec was already standing, his tail wagging and his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

I unlatched the crate and Bec stepped out. Jake was already around to the tailgate, grabbing the bag with my tent in it and the air mattresses. Bec bolted out of the truck bed, springing off the tailgate and nearly knocking Jake over in the process.

Jake dropped everything, scowling intensely at our dog. Bec was too busy peeing on trees to care.

I loved camping.

Jake hated it.

Callie was picking the bags up a moment later, grinning at my cousin. "Where should I put these?"

"That's nice of you to help, but I think I've got it," Jake insisted, grinning back. Callie shook her head.

"I want to help."

"Right. Thanks, love. You could take them over near the fire pit for me."

I grabbed up a couple of sleeping bags and the other tent before I jumped down out of the truck, leaving Jake to struggle with grandpa's trunk of junk he'd brought along. Jake huffed, hefting the leather chest down out of the truck. With a grunt he lifted it and carried it to the spot grandpa's tent usually sat.

Callie and I made a few more trips back and forth to the truck, unloading gear and supplies. I found the cooking items stowed away in a duffle bag and figured if Jake was handling the tents, I'd better handle the food.

Callie unpacked and I situated things. I positioned the cooking rack over the fire pit, and then unfolded the extra table we'd brought along. It was mostly for the fire pokers and the paper plates, but occasionally grandpa butchered fish on it. Under the table I placed the coolers.

"How are you doing, Jake?" I called, looking up from another packed bag of canned goods.

My cousin looked like a cat covered by a blanket. He was a lump moving under the canvas, cursing as he flailed his limbs. "Don't ask!"

Callie giggled next to me, handing over a roll of paper towel.

Unpacking sort of just carried on like that after a while. Callie and I set up the camp, setting up tables and a canopy to cook under, starting the campfire and organizing supplies. Jake got one tent up in two hours, so Callie and I decided to just set up our tent on our own.

Grandpa had bought each of us our own tent when Jake and I moved in. Since I shared my tent with Bec, I had a little extra room in mine. Callie settled her bag in next to mine. Together we fired up the air mattress pump and bedded down my queen sized mattress with blankets enough for the both of us.

As the sun started down, we realized dinner time had passed a couple hours ago. Jake finished up on the final tent, and he stood, stretching his back.

"I don't suppose the old fart'll be back until he absolutely has to, want to bust out the hot dogs, ladies?"

"You'll have to show me how to cook them!" Callie agreed, nodding. "You cook them over the fire, correct?"

She was trying hard not to seem too eager, but her excitement was clear.

"Correctimundo!" My cousin chirped. "Over the fire is the right best way to do it if I do say so myself! Come right on over, I'll teach you!"

I decided to just let Jake take over. I retrieved the hot dog pokers, and dolled them out. I ended up getting the hot dogs too, and the buns, and the ketchup, because Jake was already too wrapped up in his spiel of word vomit to move.

I liked to make my hot dogs slow. I skirted right around the edge of the fire, trying to cook them properly, all the way through without burning anything. Jakes solution was just to shove his into the flames. Callie grimaced when hers came out charred, and turned to me for help.

I reached over and plucked Callie's hot dog off the skewer, burning my fingers just briefly, and flung it off to the side. Bec raced over to it as fast as he could, scarfing it down without even chewing. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head at the Shepard. He came to sit at my feet as I replaced Callie's hot dog.

"Thank you, Jade," she smiled, knitting her eyebrows in sort of a hopeful, sheepish look. She was blushing, just slightly, but I thought that might be from the heat of the fire.

"Your welcome," I grinned back.

"I woulda ate that!" Jake insisted, jamming his burnt dog into a bun. He doused it in an unhealthy amount of ketchup and bit into it. He didn't seem at all affected when red condiment squirted out the bottom of the bun and onto his shorts.

"You can have the next one, Jake," I sighed, exasperated. Between the dog, my cousin and my grandpa, I felt like the only intelligent being in the house sometimes.

"Am I holding it far enough away, Jade?" My attention turned right back to Callie.

"You can hold it a little closer," I instructed.

She moved it, and held it there, looking determined to roast that dog. That was cute. She was cute.

Time passed slow at the campsite. We roasted hot dogs until after dark. I wondered if Callie was playing dumb, if not just a little. She'd never been camping, she claimed, but I wasn't sure I believed she couldn't tell when a hot dog was done. She turned to ask me a lot of questions though, I didn't mind answering them.

Bec slowly worked himself onto my lap, beginning with sliding his head under my hand and ending with a breathing white blanket in my lap.

We still hadn't seen hide or hair of grandpa, but it wasn't anything to be worried about. I hadn't heard any gunshots.

"Well now ladies! I do declare that this is not a proper camping trip until we tell some horror stories!" My cousin piped up, grinning ear to ear.

"Oh my god, I've heard them all!" I argued. Jake told dumb scary stories. They used to scare me as a kid, but then I figured he got most of them from the back of our cereal boxes when I learned to read.

"No! I've got a new one! Got it just for tonight since Callie was coming! What do you say, gal? Up for a story?" Jake batted his too long eyelashes at Callie, who nodded and just like that I was trapped.

"Fine, but I'm getting the s'mores stuff," I said, getting up as Jake started his story.

Jake cleared his throat a little too dramatically before he began.

"Now, this is a true story Callie! Got it from my dad in a letter. My mum and dad travel all across the world, and they each wrote me from The London Zoological Society this time around. That's sort of their base, I was raised in London, that's where the accent comes from, yeah? But that's not all that important."

"Anywho, the story. My dad was telling me about this man he meet in a pub, said he was from a little town way out in the country and herds sheep for a living. They got to talking and the man was out of cash, so he asks my dad to foot him another beer, in exchange he'll tell him a story. One he's never told anyone else."  
I returned to my folding chair near the fire, and Bec climbed back into my lap as I opened the bag of marshmallows. I was surprised I'd actually never heard this one.

"Oh, of course my dad is curious, so he buys him the beer. The man gets this real grim look on his face, and starts telling. Back in the seventies, when this chap was a young man, before he was married and all that, he was driving a farm truck down an old country road. It was sheep and cow fields as far as the eye could see, for kilometers. Where one stopped another started, and there weren't any houses."

"So he's driving along with a quarter of a ton of grain in the back when he sees this girl. She's got on a little skirt and a white blouse with a little powder blue jacket on over it. It's September in England, and it's cold but it hadn't rained, and the girl was soaked from head to toe," Jake spoke with broad, hard As, and he sometimes dropped his Rs. He didn't have a cockney accent like people stereotyped British people to have, he just spoke with different pronunciation.

"So he pulls over and rolls down the window and asks her what's wrong. She says she fell into a river, and she was walking back home after her friend's ditched her. He tells her to hop in, and she does, taking her jacket off to lay it on the seat."

"He asks he where home is, and she tells him, and even though it's out of his way he figures his boss will understand. She stays pretty quiet. He turns the heater up 'cause she's so pale her lips are turning blue. He finally pulls up to her house and there's a big set of gates on the end of the driveway."

"She tells him that's far enough, she can walk, and gets out of the truck. He asks her if she's sure and she tells him she is and slips through the gates and heads up to the house. He turns around and starts heading back to work, he gets halfway there when he realizes the girl left her jacket. She he doubles back around to take it to her."

"He waits at the gate for just a minute before he decides it's alright. No dogs in the yard and there weren't alarms back then, so he drives on up to the house. It's a big, old house, and he uses the door knocker to knock. And old woman comes to the door, and asks him what he wants."

"He tells her that he gave a young lady a ride here, and tries to hand her the jacket. The old woman tells him that no young ladies have lived in the house since her daughter, and that her daughter drowned in the nearby river in the nineteen fifties. She slams the door in his face, and he takes himself back to his truck. Said he kept the jacket all those years, and sometimes he rides down that old country road, looking for the ghost of the girl who left it."

Callie's grin was made eerie by the light of the fire. I wasn't scared, no way, because I'd read his dad's letter and that story was nowhere on it. He'd made the whole thing up. Besides, I didn't believe in ghosts. That was… dumb. And unrealistic. I wasn't scared.

"That was pretty good, Jake, but I'll do you one better. How about one to really scare the pants off of you?" Callie, shy little Callie challenged.

"Oh, you're on!" My cousin agreed loudly, "Jade, you'll judge!"

"Sure," I agreed half heartedly, fisting my fingers in to Bec's fur.

"This is also a true story, it happened to my uncle. Before he moved to the United States, he lived in the Ukraine and he worked as a clerk in Ivankiv, which is about an hour from the Chernobyl disaster site. It was in May, in nineteen eighty six, right after the reactor exploded."

"My uncle was locking up the store he managed, after dark. He had stayed after closing for quite some time, long after all the employees had gone home. It was a weeknight, so the streets were empty as well."

"My uncle decides that he is going to take a side street home, a short cut, down a dark alley. He was not scared because it was a way he had gone hundreds of times. There was a German Shepard in the yard to his right, the woman on the second floor to the left made delicious desserts, it was his home and he was not afraid."

"He was almost home when a terrible screech cut the air. Out of the sky swooped a gigantic black bird, with feathers as dark as the night sky it soared though. It had a wingspan of twenty feet or more, with a crow's fan shaped tail feathers. It swooped down, right for him, my uncle said he would never forget the look in its piercing red eyes."

"He saw hellfire, and the glow of hatred that came from deep in its very soul. It screamed again, and my uncle mocked it, his lungs working but his legs failing. He was frozen as pure fear overtook him, and the creature drew near, talons directed to his throat."

"At the last second, a car alarm went off, and the bird pulled away, its claws catching in his hair and the gust from its wings knocking him down. It flew off, never to be seen again. The next day, when the newspapers were delivered to my uncle's store, he saw it on the very back page. The blackbird of Chernobyl, a radioactive creature that was last seen flying from the billowing smoke of the destroyed reactor. My uncle picked up everything he could and moved to the states with his next paycheck."  
Callie trailed off ominously, sending shivers down my spine. My arms had goose bumps, and I snuggled a little closer to Bec.

"That wasn't even a ghost story!" Jake argued, crossing his arms.

"You said 'horror' story though!" Callie objected, "you didn't say they had to be about ghosts!"

Jake huffed. "Alright, alright, who won, Jade?"

"I dunno guys, I think you both did a pretty good-"

Something large and warm fell on my shoulder, and before I even looked to see what it was I screamed. Bec jumped off of my lap, barking loudly and going at whatever was coming at me. I twisted around, coming face to face with the illuminated silhouette of my grandpa, his gun in one hand and a dead fish in the other.

"Easy kids! It's just me! Down, Bec, down boy," my grandfather chuffed. "You all have a nice evening? I've got breakfast for tomorrow morning!"

He held up the fish, grinning. Jake groaned.

"You know, grandpa, most people fish with a fishing pole, not a rifle."

"They aren't having as much fun as I am though, are they?" Grandpa winked, chuckling .

"Come on Callie, he's gonna clean that fish and I don't think you wanna see it," I huffed, my heart still beating out of my chest.

"Good call!" My friend agreed, "we could go situate the tent?"

I didn't reply, I just got up, and headed to the tent. Callie and Bec were right behind me. We zipped the tent up behind us and flipped on our battery powered lantern. I turned it on as bright as it would go, just for good measure. We'd already laid the bed out, so we sat on the air mattress and finished getting ready for bed. I laid out Bec's blanket at the foot of the bed, got him a bowl of water, and changed into my pajamas. Callie had her back turned to me, and we agreed that was fine. She changed too, and we laid back on the bed.

"This is such an exciting trip! Camping is great, Jade! Would you like to watch a movie?" Callie grinned, digging in her pants pocket to pull out camping contraband, her cell phone. It wasn't new like mine, but it still played videos just fine.

"Sure!" I agreed, and she tapped a few times and brought up a movie we both liked.

"Turn off the lamp, would you?" She asked, laying back.

I hesitated.

"Let's keep it on a little while longer," I suggested.

"Oh, are you afraid, Jade?" Callie gasped, genuine concern crossing her face.

"Oh, no," I lied through my teeth, "not really, it's just uh."

"So no more!" She ushered, "I don't mind the light! Actually, I sleep with a night light at home anyway."

"Can I ask though, since I know Jake's story was fake, did that really happen to your uncle?" I inquired sheepishly.

"Oh, no, of course not! My uncle moved here only a few years before I did," my friend tried to assure me, "The bird is something like a legend, but my story was just an old wives tale, just trying to scare teenagers away from going near the city, since radiation gives you cancer."

That made me feel a little better. I nodded, but now I had a new question. "Forgive me for getting off topic, or being intrusive, but is that where your from? The Ukraine?"  
Callie looked conflicted, like she wasn't sure if she wanted to answer, but she finally spoke after a long silence. "Do you promise you won't tell if I tell you something?"

"I won't tell a soul!"

It was her turn to nod, and she paused for a moment longer and then replied.

"My mother, my brother and I, we come from Turkey but we lived in the Ukraine ever since my father left. We did not live in the good part of the Ukraine. So we came here, to the United States. We are not supposed to be here, you see? We came to visit my uncle, but we never left."

"So wait, is there a reason you don't go back? Oh, I'm so sorry, I don't mean to pry," I said quickly, trying to make her feel less insecure. I didn't want her to feel like she had to tell me, she was very insecure about all this in the first place.

"It's alright, it sort of feels good to tell someone. Like I don't have to hide it," she smiled, "we were very poor at home. My uncle got my mother a very good job. She gets um, what's the phrase? Paid under the table?"

"Oh! Definitely! I don't blame you guys for getting out of a bad situation!" I wanted to slap myself. I really couldn't come up with anything more comforting to say to her?

"Yes, um, but I have something else to tell you too. If you don't mind."

"Shoot!"

"Alright," she laughed nervously, " I um. Hm. This is so hard! Your so nice, and you're confident! And you are so supportive. I, um, I feel something very real about you, Jade."

"You feel about-" then it hit me. I felt my face heat up. "M-me? You feel that way about me?"

"Yes. Did I offend you? I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, I-" she gasped, horrified.

"You didn't offend me, oh my gosh!"

I was completely and utterly caught off guard. Sure, I liked girls. To be fair, I also liked boys, but I had no idea Callie felt this way about me. She'd never said anything to make me think she felt any way about any gender. This must have taken so much courage for her to say. She was shy, and it took her time. I wondered how long she'd wanted to say it.

"Was.." Callie paused, "was I too foreword?"

My thoughts cleared to give her all of my attention.

"Well um, to be perfectly honest, I don't know? It's just so unexpected. I uh, I mean, I'm glad you told me!" I tripped over my words, scrambling to say something, anything. "I'm really glad you told me, I just hadn't ever thought of you that way before. You weren't exactly dropping hints!"

Her mouth moved into an 'O' shape and her eyebrows rose. Her expression was somewhere in between shock and embarrassment. "Oh. Oh I'm so sorry, I just, I'm sorry. I understand if you just want to be friends."

I laughed nervously, shifting in a failed attempted to get comfortable. "Well I'm not opposed to being more than friends! I mean I think! Let's just see where this goes, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, nodding.

I reached over and pulled her close, hugging her and smiling and she hugged me back. Everything meant a little bit more now. Warm. Happy. Peaceful under the starry sky.


	17. Rain, A Flood (John & Dave)

Filling the request for a Dave & John brotp chapter! The next chapter is part of the main storyline, and then I have an intermission planned, and then maybe a break? I've got the entire next act planned out.

* * *

I really fucking hated running. I hated the way I looked, I hated the way I felt. I hated how sweat dripped down my back and my face, how it pretty much soaked my underwear. I hated the burning in my lungs most of all.

I was pretty out of shape. Jogging halfway around the high school's track had me out of breath and by a full lap my legs were screaming at me to stop.

"You wanna take a break, Dave?" John grinned, trotting his ass along side me, "we just started, I can't believe you're tired already!"

"Fuck off man, I can't help it," I huffed, "I'm out of shape."

My best friend laughed. "I'll say."

"Hey, I don't know why you wanna submit yourself to this torture, but it's not for everyone. Like myself for instance."

"Track is fun!" John countered, "you get to exercise and exercising makes you happy! Like in your brain and stuff. Plus you can compete and win stuff!"

"Sure. Whatever. If exercise makes you happy maybe we should tell Rose that. Her ass is constantly miserable," I snarked. John took a moment to think about that.

"I think your sister's problem is deeper than that, no offense."

"None taken," I replied.

"You should join, it'd be fun. We could do it together," John suggested.

"No," I rejected immediately.

"Yeah, do it!" John insisted, "hey, maybe your dad would get off your case about the boxing lessons?"

It was my turn to think. I fucking hated those boxing lessons. I had absolutely no upper body strength and the instructor had no faith in me.

"Yeah but like, what would I do? I'm not exactly Dave the fastest kid in school, or Dave the strongest kid in school. I'm kinda just like, Dave the guy, you know?"

John laughed, never faltering a step. "That's okay! We can find something you're good at. Like uh, we could work on running this year and do two man relay? Or uh, you by yourself could do shop put or something. And the coach is nice!"

"Sure, let me get right on that," I huffed, using my wrist in a failed effort to wipe some of the sweat off of my face. "Seriously, who runs in the summer, what the fuck?"

John just laughed.

We jogged a little longer, rounding a curve on the black top.

"You really think he'll let me quit boxing?" I asked.

"I could see if my dad would ask him?" John offered.

"Sounds like a marvelous fucking plan."

The conversation lulled for a whole lap before John started it up again.

"Summer feels like it's going so fast, this isn't fair," John huffed. His sneakers hit the track rhythmically, and I tried for just asecond to get mine to sound the same as his. My legs were longer, I realized, John was about Karkat's height, a whole head shorter than me, and it wouldn't happen.

"I know, right? It's already almost August. You doing the county fair again this year?"

He just sort of laughed. "Yeah, I'm pretty excited. I got an extra ticket to the grandstands, you wanna come see the figure eight on Monday night after we get the rabbits settled?"

"Yeah man, totally, you need help with the rabbits? You got like fifty of them."

Okay, that was an exaggeration. He'd started with two, one for him and one for his sister Jane, but then Jane lost interest and one of the rabbits that was supposed to be a boy was actually a girl and well, John got to keep all of the babies. He showed them, and while they didn't always do so well, he did have a couple of blue ribbons in the stash with the reds and yellows.

"I don't have fifty, I have five, and yeah, sure. That'd be great actually! The barn manager usually buys everybody popcorn too. Do you wanna show one?" John asked without missing a beat.

"I'm good." Rabbits weren't my thing.

It was quiet, for just a second, until John broke the silence with a strange, awkward tone.

"Hey, can I ask you a question? Like, a weird question?"

I gave him the side eye, but answered, "sure."

"Is Karkat everything you hoped for? Like, um," he paused to clear his throat, "like, how, uh, how did you know he was what you wanted?"

Oh. I guess I figured he was gonna ask me something totally off the wall. That certainly was a totally different subject, but it wasn't an offensive question.

"Uhh," I started lamely, "I guess I didn't? I mean how many people know what they want? No offense but a ton of people can't tell flirting from just talking. I mean, no offense but your sister hadn't hung out with Gamzee Makara a day in her life but suddenly they're spending like every day together."

John pulled a disgusted face and rolled his eyes. "I know. "

"Right," I continued, "and I mean teenagers are bad at this shit anyway. Kanaya confessed to Rose like female Romeo and fuckin' gay Juliet and they're a thing. I'm off topic though. I guess I didn't know I liked Karkat so much until suddenly I did. It just hit me one day and we flirted our dumb asses off until he kissed me and it just sort of got official from there."

"Are you happy?" John followed up.

"Oh hell yeah, man. Karkat and you have always been my best buds but it's a good different. But it's not always flowers and sunshine out the ass. We fucked Terezi over hard core. She still won't speak to either of us. Why do you ask?"

John jogged on for just a minute, his face looking deeply unhappy.

"You don't gotta tell me," I assured, "I'm just curious is all."

"Well so," John's voice wavered before he cleared his throat a second time. "Well so, um. Can I ask you one more question before I tell you?"

John was nervous about something. I couldn't pin just what yet. "Yeah."

"Like even if it's invasive? I don't wanna be an asshole."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah dude, fuck, just ask."

"Do you and Karkat do, uh, like do stuff? Like, like, sex stuff?"

I stopped dead with my jaw slack. Little John Egbert that'd been the same hight since the sixth grade, and whose dad fixed him lunch every day honestly just asked me that? I couldn't believe my goddamn ears.

John, noticing I'd basically just flatlined, doubled back around and stopped. He put his hands on his hips while he breathed deeply.

"Uh," I stammered, "No, no, not usually. I mean, not yet. We might like to later? I guess? But no."

John took a deep breath and nodded. He looked away, still very worried. We just sort of stood like that for a while, panting and sucking in huge gulps of air and wishing we had brought water. He finally broke the silence as I wiped sweat off of my face.

"So I was online the other night and stumbled across this forum talking about- er. So I kinda think that I'm-"

Oh fuck, here it comes. Mr. John "I'm not a homosexual" Egbert was about to tell me he was gay.

"Okay, remember three years ago when Jade figured out she was bisexual? And she was so happy that it was a thing she could be and she told us how good it made her feel to know that?" He asked.

"Yeah?" I agreed.

"I was sort of thinking about that. I was online the other night and I saw some people talking about this thing, called Asexuality. And then I saw some more stuff, this time on stuff like aromanticism, which, that's where you don't get feelings. For anybody."

"I was so confused, you know?" John rubbed his eye in a way that vaguely looked like he was crying. I'd never seen this kid look so upset, not even at his sixth birthday party when Jane hid a fake mustache in the cake.

"Like how does that happen? How broken of a person do you have to be to be that way? But the more I read about it the more I noticed it sounded just like me. I guess I just asked so, um, I guess so I could judge for myself how I'm supposed to feel, you know?"

He laughed a little in the blubbering sort of giggle, choking a little on his tears, and sniffed. "I mean, I'm only sixteen. I guess I still have time to feel differently."

"Jesus Christ, John," my words fell outta my mouth in pure disbelief, "you aren't broken."

"Should I want to fall in love though? To meet a pretty girl and get married and have the kids and dog and white picket fence? Just like my dad?" John's face was red and it wasn't from running.

"Fuck no!" I said a little louder than I needed. "Dude, your the only one who can decide what you want. There's nothing wrong with not wanting any of that."

Oh god. I didn't sign up for a nervous breakdown today but I got one anyway. I wasn't sure if it was the sight of my best friend crying or the fact that I'd felt just like that not too long ago. I remembered realizing I was in love with Karkat, and the horrible dread it brought.

Not because I didn't want to be that way, but because of the way my dad treated my siblings.

I didn't know how John felt. I'd felt similar, and I was going to offer him whatever help I could.

"Hey, John, let's go see Karkat. He's really good at this sort of stuff, maybe he could help you?" I suggested. Karkat was definitely better at this than I was.

John hiccuped, rubbing his eyes and sniffling. He was trying so hard to get this under control. I took the poor kid into a one armed hug, trying to keep my sticky skin off of his, and John returned the hug with an arm of his own.

"Yeah okay, let's go see Karkat," he finally agreed into my shirt.

We parted ways without even as much as a no homo, and left the track, walking across the football field to the parking lot. The high school wasn't too far from home. Only a couple of blocks. It seemed like a lot longer in the suburbs, walking on the side of the road.

The cul-de-sac was a welcome sight. Karkat looked to be home, and thankfully his father was not. Kankri's car was there, but I'd gotten to know him over the past month and a half. He was chill, in a Kankri sort if way.

I lead John around the house instead of using the front door, and let us in though the back sliding door. I'd been informed I could come and go as I pleased. I used those instructions liberally.

We entered the house to shouting.

"Kankri, you stupid fucking dicklicking shit for brains! Stop it!"

"Now, now," Kankri's voice was as calm and condescending as ever.

"Yo! I'm here!" I shouted through the house.

"Great! Now Dave's here!" Karkat groaned loudly, "come in, I guess."

I lead John through the house, passing through the kitchen to the living room. I knew the way since this house was an exact copy of my own, besides the furniture.

I found Karkat in the living room, standing on a chair with a sweater on. The charcoal grey knit was only half finished, his bare belly on display and only one sleeve attached. Kankri stood on one side of him with a magnetic strip of pins and a measuring tape. Porrim Maryam stood on the other side of him, looking miffed at what I think might have been the other sleeve. The older Maryam girl was so tall, Karkat had to have the chair so she wouldn't be bent over the whole time.

"You gettin' pretty for me, babe?" I snickered.

Karkat rolled his eyes. "Porrim was nice enough to make me one Kankri's, can it."

"This one will be finished soon, so he can use it in the fall. I'll make you one too, if you'd like, Dave," Porrim grinned, looking away for just a moment. I grinned back.

"Naw, that's okay. Thanks though. I actually brought John to see Karkat, if you don't mind?"

"Kankri pin this here," Porrim instructed, holding the top of the sleeve up to the sweater. Kankri reached over sticking a pin in the woven fabric, and in Karkat's shoulder.

"Ow, Jackass!" Karkat snarled. This time Kankri ignored him.

Porrim reached over, pulling the sweater over Karkat's head and off of him. "Let's take five."

As Porrim and Kankri left the room, Karkat stepped down from the chair.

"So what's up?"

"I thought maybe you could help John out. Your really good at like, helping other people feel better," I answered.

Karkat rose his eyebrows and turned to John. John shrunk back.

"Spill it Egbert, I don't have all day."

"Okay, well, so," John stammered.

"Spit it out!" Karkat was aggressive. Sometimes he needed to be.

"Jeez, no need to be so mean," John whined. I could tell he wasn't wanting to continue, so I elbowed him in the ribs to prompt him further. "Okay, okay, you guys are gonna choke it out of me either way, I get it. Fine. I think I'm aromantic, alright? Do I need to say more?"

Karkat didn't look surprised, more like apathetic. I knew that look well, and I was pretty sure John did too

"Aromantic? As in like, not interested in romance?" My boyfriend inquired.

"Yeah," John affirmed.

Karkat's expression didn't change. "Oh, good for you. What's the problem?"

"Don't you think there's anything wrong with that? It's not normal." John expressed.

Karkat rolled his eyes. "Listen. Kankri goes on and on about this shit after he gets off those Internet forums of his. There are tons of people like you. It _is_ normal. Normal is a subjective term."

"Normal is not! Normal is two parents and their kids. It's a family," John argued.

"Alright, Egbert. Who's in your family? You know who's in mine? A dead mom, a brother, an asshole dad, and two sisters I lived next to my entire life and never knew. Arguably, there's a second mother. I'm gay. I don't have a nuclear family. I'm normal. You're normal. Dave is normal. You know what's not normal? Freaking the fuck out about being yourself." Karkat huffed angrily once he was finished speaking. He was annoyed, I could tell. He was more annoyed than he was letting on though, for John's sake.

"Do you suppose I could add something?"

My head twisted around, and so did John's to Porrim rendering the room. She held a bottle of water, and stood square, trying her best not to intimidate John. Porrim smiled warmly, I could see her rolling the ball on her lip piercing.

"I guess," John muttered.

She came closer, placing a reassuring hand on John's shoulder and steered him to the couch so she could sit eye to eye with him, talk on the same level. She was definitely the mom friend of her friend group.

"John, just because you feel this way doesn't mean things have to change. You've lived your life this way up until now, and no one can stop you from following along that same track. Aromantic people still get married, asexual people still have kids. If you have an image you want to fit, chase it, but do so because it makes you happy, not because it's what society thinks is right. You don't have to fit in someone's boxed idea of a label."

I watched the gears turn in John's head, and the oil clear out of the water. Realization hit him like a hammer, and it clicked. He just sort of nodded dumbly.

"Great," Porrim's grin widened, "Kanny's gonna make us some mac and cheese for lunch. Would you boys like to stay?"

Just then, something crashing in the kitchen, like a hundred metal pans pounding on each other. Porrim's expression did a one eighty, scowling and standing up.

"Kanny! Can't you even boil water without making a fuss?"

"Porrim, please!" Kankri shouted from the other room, and Porrim quickly left to finish the argument she'd just started.

John sort of laughed, and sat back on the couch. He took a deep breath and put a tired hand over his face, like a load had just been taken off of his shoulders. I elbowed Karkat with a smirk. My boyfriend narrowed his eyes.

"Dave, go get a fucking wash cloth. You guys reek."


	18. We Don't Talk Anymore (Kankri)

End of Act 2

I don't know what's going on with my life anymore. What I DO know is that I do have some updates. I don't write these in a linear way, sometimes I write short cliff note versions of chapters, sometimes I write chapters halfway and then quit, and sometimes I work with them in parts. I've got the intermission half written and the beginning of Act 3 almost finished, it just needs a bridge. I also tried out a new format with text messages here. tell me how you like it?

Expect the intermission out soon!

* * *

Morning at the Vantas house was never peaceful. My father had already left for work, leaving my brother and I to mind ourselves on another hot sunny day. Unfortunately, I hardly ever got to sleep in.

I rose from my bed, tired still from a late night up blogging. Something was thumping downstairs, probably my brother Karkat. He was always up early because the earlier he got up, the earlier his boyfriend could come over. The two were inseparable, and I understood why our house was the meeting place.

My father and I had always been accepting of Karkat. That was a sharp contrast to Dave's own home, where his orientation was a secret. It absolutely puzzled me how his own father could treat his children that way.

Stretching my limbs, I dressed for the day and journeyed downstairs.

The source of the thumping was not my younger brother as I suspected. It was knocking on my front door. Who could it be at this hour of the morning, I wondered, but after glancing at the clock I saw how late it was. It was nearly eleven. I'd need to be to work in an hour. I went to the door in a hurry, having no idea how long this person had been knocking.

I discovered Latula Pyrope on my front porch, grinning like a fox.

I'd always thought she was so pretty. She had long tresses of black hair that swept to her mid back, and the most beautiful blue eyes I'd ever had the pleasure of seeing. I also admired her sense of style. She never wore the usual mainstream brands, instead choosing some of the lesser known skateboarding brands. She always wore Vans. She had every shoe in every color, I swore. I'd bought a pair just like her black ones once.

"Hey, Kankz!" She greeted loudly, using her fingers to brush through her long hair.

"Good morning, Latula," I returned, watching her pull a black band off of her wrist to tie back her hair.

I'd had a crush on her since the eighth grade. I think everyone knew it but her.

"Hey, I just wanted to stop by and chat for just a sec, that cool?" She asked, shifting her weight from one hip to the other.

"That would suit me just fine," I grinned, "please, come in."

"Nah, I think I'm okay out here. I'm getting ready to leave here in just a second!" She rejected. My smile fell from my face.

"Leave? Where are you going?"

Latula just sort of laughed awkwardly, fidgeting with her hair again. She pulled the band out to fuss with it more. "Well so, you see, Mituna and I are taking off in like ten minutes. I'm driving us to Las Vegas, you know, to get married."

My jaw dropped and I couldn't find words to move it.

"Heh, yeah! So! I just wanted to say bye to an awesome friend Kankz! You've been a super rad guy and I'm gonna see you on the flip side!"

"Are- are you leaving? For good?" I asked in disbelief.

"Oh no!" Her face changed rapidly to a deep worry, "no! I'm gonna be back in a couple of days. I figure it'll take us like five to get there and five back?"

I didn't reply. I didn't know if I could.

I guess somewhere deep down I'd always hoped she'd leave Mituna. Especially during the tail end of our senior year, when he'd grown mean and doubly nasty. She never did, though. They were high school sweethearts and then some.

Now she was gonna marry this guy and I was never going to have a chance.

I'd dropped all the hints, but I'd never made a move, and now I wanted to beat the shit out of myself for it.

"Kankri? You okay?"

"No, I- Latula, is this really such a good idea?" I asked. I was offended and I didn't keep the tone out of my voice.

I watched her face contort into confusion like she wasn't sure how to react. "What?"

"I said, is this really such a good idea? Have you thought for a second about the consequences? Did you ask your mother? How does his father feel? It's a really bad idea to go running off into the wild blue yonder without a sensible plan," I was through worrying about her feelings. I was probably taking out my feelings on her. This wasn't her fault but it felt so good to be mad. She was either too stuck up Mituna Captor's ass or ignoring me outright not to see I was in love with her. I'd be mad at myself later, but right now I felt so raw. Like she'd ripped off the band-aid.

"You know, if I didn't know better, it sounds kinda like your trying to tell me what to do?" I watched Latula's expression become the passive sort of angry she did in arguments at school. Like she was above me.

"I suppose I am," I snapped, "You're making a bad choice, Latula. You need to go home and think with a clear head."

"Hey, fuck off hard ass! You can't tell me what to do! I'm a legal adult and I can fucking get married if I want to!" She was outraged by now, nearly yelling at me. I didn't care.

"Then maybe you should think like an adult too," I snarked.

She'd had enough. Without another word she turned off of my porch and left, flipping me the bird halfway across my lawn on her way home. Alright, fine. I turned too and slammed the door. I hoped she heard the force I'd used as the steel meet the doorframe.

I threw myself down on our couch, my head in my hands and sighed.

I wanted to cry. The girl of my dreams was not only mad at me, but she was about to be out of my grasp forever. I snuffed, but I refused to start crying now. There was a time and place for crying and that was not right before I went to work.

I went upstairs. I took a shower. I put on my uniform. I went to work. I moved mechanically, doing everything I could to overload my senses to I wouldn't have to think about Latula. I turned the water up so hot it burned, I put my belt on too tight, I blasted the radio and drove eighty down the highway. I arrived at work late for my shift, but I didn't care. My manager wasn't there to yell at me.

I fucking hated working at Taco Bell. I couldn't work the register taking orders like usual, so my coworkers were all pissed. None of them liked me much anyway, I didn't care. I slopped meat in tacos most of the day.

Around noon my co-worker left on a smoke break and nobody else knew how to operate the register. Throwing my gloves in the trash, I begrudgingly went to the front.

Standing on the other side of the counter, sipping a Pepsi was my neighbor, Damara Megido.

"Hello, did he already take your order?" I asked, surveying the mall food court. Today had been pretty slow and it looked like it would remain that way.

"Yeah, just waiting for my crunchwrap," she grinned. She looked so smug in her too short skirt and low cut blouse. I couldn't believe her mother let her out of the house like that.

I didn't really like her. I didn't like most people.

"So," she drawled, "did you hear about Latula and Mituna?"

I huffed, narrowing my eyes. "What of it?"

I watched her eyebrows raise. She knew I was angry, but she was going to pretend she didn't.

"Oh, nothing," she replied, uninterested, "I just happened to see you two fight this morning."

"We weren't fighting," I rejected.

"What would you call that then?" She asked, turning her hand over to study her nails. She was still grinning, and I don't think I'd ever hated anyone as much as I did her in that moment.

"Listen, Kankri," she said finally, looking up and giving me her full attention. "Latula Pyrope is the dumbest bitch I've ever meet. She's the kind of girl who's so stuck to her boyfriend she doesn't have any other friends. She treats you badly, and she knows it. If you wanna come hang out with me and Cronus one night this week, you can. I know what it's like to be chosen second over and over."

My co-worker came up behind me and slid her tray of food onto the counter. She grabbed it with one hand and walked away, her hard soled shoes clicking on the mall floor. I watched her go. She walked all the way across the food court and sat down at a table with Cronus Ampora and the two ate lunch together.

I processed a couple more orders during the time they ate, and I watched them ride the escalator down to the mall's first floor and out of sight.

When I took my break an hour later I scrolled through my phone, checking Facebook and twitter. I didn't follow Latula, Mituna, Damara, or Cronus. Just all my social justice warrior bullshit. It was bullshit, all of it. I couldn't believe I'd never seen that before. Why the fuck was I up half the night fighting on the internet for, anyway?

I thought back to all the times Porrim had tried explaining things to me about feminism, but I'd been so concerned about my own ideas about problems that didn't even matter to listen. My mouth went dry. Oh. Wow. I felt like an asshole.

I guessed maybe, from here on out I should probably start doing more listening than talking. Latula had been a bad friend to me, but what kind of friend was I being to Porrim? I needed to work on that too.

My phone vibrated with a text message, appearing on the top of my screen as a notification. It was Porrim, and I was sure she'd heard about Latula and I.

 **From:** Porrim

 **Message:** You doing anything after work? Timestamp: 1:04

I typed return message quickly.

 **To:** Porrim

 **Message:** I wasn't planning on it. Would you like to do something? Timestamp: 1:04

I didn't have to wait long for a reply. Porrim was fast typer.

 **From:** Porrim

 **Message:** You never ask to hang out first. Are you upset? Timestamp: 1:04

"Kankri! Your breaks over!" My co-worker shouted.

"Coming!" I called back and looked down at my phone one last time.

 **To:** Porrim

 **Message:** I'm mad, but that's not the point. I just kind of realized something. I'll see you tonight. Timestamp: 1:05

I pocketed my phone and went back to work.

* * *

This is short but it needed to happen to 1) further my plot and 2) put Kankri in a position to do what he needs to, to have the ending I want happen.

This chapter says a lot for the kind of person Latula is (and by that, I mean the way I wrote her to be) and serves as a lesson to Kankri. Porrim didn't magically make him feel better, He won't get a quick fix to how he feels, but he also never considered Latula's feelings. Moral of the story: it takes two sides to make a friend, and sometimes the end to something is not satisfying.

Please leave me a review with any questions, comments, concerns or predictions!


	19. Another Vice (Mindfang,Redglare, and Co)

Intermission: "If you need me, I'll be where my reputation don't preceded me."

* * *

The neighborhood Applebee's was brimming tonight. The picture of suburban living. A fucking minivan parked outside an Applebee's next to a god damn Home Depot. Like we could get any more predictable.

Neophyte's red SUV was tacky and bulky, but it got us there just fine. The little girl at the front opened the door for us, and we immediately located our group. Collected at a few pushed together tables was the dubious bunch we'd graduated with. Our neighbors. There were twelve of us to begin with, but I saw we had a few additions tonight.

The first was Megido -er, was it Droog now? Whatever. She'd brought along her husband.

The second was a boy, probably about fourteen, looking miserable on his phone next to his equally miserable father.

"Dualscar, did you miss the memo? No brats!" I huffed, walking up behind the table. I straightened my leather jacket and sat down across from Dualscar Ampora. Neophyte settled to my left.

Dualscar looked up at me over the drink he was nursing and glared. "Brought him along to lighten the mood. We'll need it since you've arrived."

"Ha!" I scoffed, "very funny. You know, we quit dating in high school, you don't need to be so nice about it."

"Ignore her. She's just as mean as that girl of hers," Summoner Nitram interjected from down the table. "Which, you know, it'd be great if you could get your kid to leave my kid alone."

"Maybe if Tavros grew a spine, Vriska wouldn't be so mean," I hissed, lips curling in a smirk.

Okay, maybe that was a low blow. That earned a few disapproving glances.

"Moving on," Neophyte sighed, trying to brush away the tension, "This is your younger son, Dualscar?"

"Yes," Dualscar replied, frowning. "He's been livin' with his mother since we got divorced. Moved in at the beggin' a summer."

"And I hate it," the teenager added.

"Didn't ask you," Dualscar's expression soured further. "He ain't done nothin' but annoy Maryam's gal all summer. Can't seem to make any friends."

"Annoy is a week word," Dolorosa replied loftily. "Try vex. Or exasperate."

"I can too make friends! Shut up, dad!" The kid insisted, his snobby little nose stuck up in the air.

I wondered if I could hook him and Aranea up. She seemed pretty alone too, lately. On second thought, better not.

Condesce's laugh boomed from down the table. "Oh, I'll get Feferi on it!"

Psiioniic Captor wrinkled his nose. "That'd sure shake things up a bit. With Sollux anyway."

After that, conversations sort of branched off. A waitress came by and brought Neophyte and I drinks. I needed a beer after the day I'd had, so it was a good thing I wasn't driving.

Dualscar, his boy, Neophyte and I were seated on one end of the table.

At the other end, Summoner Nitram was sitting across from Signless Vantas. Disciple, who always was a floozy for him, was pretty much attached at his hip. They seemed to be getting on alright down there.

Vantas looked pretty dejected though. I'd heard from Vriska who, heard from Meenah, who'd heard from Latula, with information that'd come straight from Meulin that their Fourth Of July reveal had not gone well.

I figured they finally got what was coming to them. Snowman had been my friend and she deserved better than Signless.

A waitress came and took our orders. There was some intense shuffling and some clarification on who was on which bill, but the paper made it to the kitchen and that's all I cared about.

Dolorosa, who was on the other side of Neophyte turned our way. She was still wearing her hair up, like she'd just come from the hospital but her makeup had been redone.

"I haven't seen you in some time, Neophyte. How are you?" She asked, raising a perfectly waxed brow.

"Oh, I've been alright. Trying to get Latula to decide what she wants to do for college," Neophyte wrinkled her nose and adjusted her glasses, "it's harder than I thought it'd be."

"Life's not that hard, god damn it. You have a bunch of fucking kids, pay taxes, and then you die. Tell that to Latula," Dualscar snarked, sloshing his drink in his cup. That comment was unwarranted. Dolorosa glared.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Neophyte spoke in that horrible 'higher than thou' lawyer tone. "I live a very full and rewarding life with my children, and I pay my taxes."

Dualscar cocked an eyebrow. "Do you?"

Neophyte actually looked like she might come across the table at him. Did she though?

Neophyte might be my best friend, but like fuck if I knew anything about her personal life. She'd gotten kind of secretive after we'd both got married. Funny thing was, now we were both divorced and she remained the same.

"That's quite enough," Dolorosa huffed, glaring at Dualscar momentarily before turning back to Neophyte. "I'm sure Latula will figure it out. She's a smart girl."

"Where's Porrim going to school?" I piped up.

Dolorosa sucked in a quick breath and with an apprehensive tone she replied, "She wants to become a tattoo artist, so I believe she will be interning, er, nearby. I think."

I didn't reply. I was kind of glad Aranea had her shit together and was going to a regular University. Neither of my kids were into weird shit like Dolorosa's, thank God.

The waitress came with food and appetizers and drink refills soon after that conversation trailed off. I'd downed my first two beers and was half way through a third when the conversation got interesting again.

"So, Signless, Disciple, when are you two getting married?" Maiden asked very nonchalant, stealing a fork of food off of her husband's plate.

Disciple Leijon literally choked on her food. Signless spat his water back in to his cup, turning to his girlfriend to pat her on the back. When Disciple's coughing fit finally quit, they both exchanged glances, unsure how to answer.

"Well we- I uh," Signless stammered.

"We didn't think now was a good time, if that's what you're asking," Disciple looked downright afraid.

"With Kankri going so far away to college."

"And Meulin is pregnant."

"And the mortgages."

"It's just not a good time," Disciple finally finished. Signless was trying to take another sip of water, but succeeded only in spilling it on himself.

I bet that asshole hadn't even asked her to marry him. Disciple was always waiting for Signless to come back to her, seventeen years later. I didn't know why he taken so long.

By the end of my third beer I was feeling pretty bad about Snowman. Stella hadn't even got to see Vriska. She was too sick to even hold her head up, much less meet my kid.

My group of friends was looking pretty sad. Seven out of twelve of were divorced, and only one of those seven had gotten remarried. I hadn't even thought about it. Not after my last one ended. I didn't think I could function normally with another person.

I ordered another beer, feeling a little light headed.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" Dualscar asked from behind his Pepsi.

"You're just mad you gotta drive," I slurred. I could hear myself slurring, but I didn't much care.

My food tasted my alcohol. I barely found my credit card to pay for my meal, and it was in the same place it always was. If I said goodbye to any of my friends, I didn't remember it. Neophyte had a hand clutched in to the arm of my jacket, leading my swaying ass out into the parking lot.

The next thing I knew we were sitting in my driveway. Neophyte bailed out of the car, coming around to my side. I managed to get ahold of the door handle at let myself out, spilling out of her car and staggered to my feet.

"Why did you get so drunk?" She asked. I just sort of shrugged.

"Why're you so," I paused, catching myself as I stumbled, "damn good at everything?"

"What am I good at that you aren't?" She asked, holding a hand out to assist me. I took it. We made the way up my front walk, slow but much steadier.

"I 'unno. You cun, like, talk to people? Be civil? People like you," I fumbled with my keys in my pocket and floundered with my lock. Finally I got it open, and let us in to my dark house.

"People like you too," Neophyte pointed out.

"Nut like 'ey like you," I huffed, peeling my boots off. My best friend kicked her shoes off next to mine. "Your husband even, he still likes you."

"Ex-Husband!" She hissed, "Jesus Christ Spinerette, what kind of fucked up trip are you on? How many nights did Aranea walk in on you two fist fighting? Your husband was never worth a shit. You should be glad to be rid of him. I'm glad to be rid of mine."

She lead me into the living room, just off the front door. From there I managed to flop myself down in the recliner while she perched herself on the end of my sofa. She still had on her pleated slacks from work.

I sighed. "Guess you're right."

I leaned my head back against the chair and closed my eyes.

"You're muh best friend," I mumbled. "Thanks for dragging my ass home."

"You're welcome. I could tell you were feeling kind of down," she replied, relaxing in to my couch.

I reached down and pulled the lever on the chair, the foot rest popping up and leaning me back. I wasn't feeling so good right now. My stomach was churning, like it was trying to turn itself inside out.

"Wanna have a sleep over?" I asked, reaching up to rub circles on my eyelids.

"Only if I can raid your stash," I could hear her grin in her voice.

"Drink up, but don bring anymore near me," I groaned. She laughed, and I heard her get up. Glasses clinked in my kitchen as she poured herself a drink. I heard the couch creak as she settled back onto it. The TV channel changed, and the classic dun-dun of law and order flooded the speakers. That prompted her to lower the volume.

I thought maybe Aranea was upstairs, but I had no idea where Vriska was. I didn't even think about calling her, she could handle herself. She was a lot like me when I was a kid.

I hoped she became a better adult than I did.

Sleep sounded so good right now, but the hangover tomorrow morning did not. Some partier I was.

" 'f I fall asleep, don' wake me up," I said aloud.

"Likewise."

* * *

I'm all about healthy adult friendships. It seems like they're pretty hard to find and keep. Are they more than friends? Up to interpretation.

Would you guys all like it if I included information on the parents and living situations as a separate chapter to this? Questions, Thoughts, Concerns? Drop me a comment.


	20. Fear Of Falling ( Terezi )

The last time I worked on the parts I put together to make this chapter was 4/22/16 and I'm posting it today on 1/23/17. This has been in the works for a while! Enjoy.

* * *

"Thank you, yes, I'll keep you updated."

I sat on my living room couch listening to my mother on the phone in our kitchen. She hung up the phone and it was quiet for a long time. She dialed another number and another conversation ensued exactly as the ones before it. She asked the person on the other end if they knew where Latula was.

I couldn't see it, but I knew Latula's car wasn't in our driveway. She'd left yesterday afternoon and she didn't come back. My mom hadn't noticed right away, Latula was always gone on Friday nights. Today was Saturday though, mom was home from the law firm and Latula wasn't here when she called her down for breakfast.

She couldn't file a police report unless she'd been missing a full twenty-four hours. Until then, she decided to start calling all the other parents in our neighborhood.  
That was stupid of her. Of course, the parents didn't know anything, but all of us kids knew.

"Pyral," I called and I heard my dog get up, his nails clicking on the floor. I grabbed on to his leather collar and stood up. I let him lead me to the kitchen, my hand on the wall. I had a pretty good map in my head of the house but right now I was kind of shook up.

"Mom," I said, letting go of Pyral.

"Yes, Terezi," she sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I'll make you something for dinner just let me call one more person."

I swallowed my words, frowning.

I heard the phone beeping and I could vaguely hear it ringing.

"Hello?" My mother said, "hi, Psiioniic, its Neophyte. Have you seen Latula? She didn't come home last night and I was wondering if- really?"

I couldn't make out Mr. Captor's words.

"Okay. Yes, if I hear from him I'll call you. Thanks."

She sighed and I was sure she put her head in her hands. It was an old habit of hers.

"Terezi, I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" I asked.

"Because I just," she sighed a third time, "I lost your sister and now I'm neglecting you. What do you want to eat?"

"I don't care," I huffed. I sat down at the table, fiddling with them hem of my shirt. She sat next to me for a moment before she got up and I heard her shuffling around in the kitchen. Minutes later I could smell hotdogs and I could hear the skin cracklings in the frying pan.

"Psiioniic Captor said Mituna hadn't come home last night either, so I'm thinking they're together," my mom explained. No duh.

Pyral's nails clicked on our hardwood floors. He set his head on my lap and I scratched him behind the ears.

"It's just so funny nobody has seen her," she mused, and the frying pan sizzled harshly.

I had. I knew exactly where she was. Latula made me promise not to tell.

I couldn't see my mother's face but I knew she was worried. Earlier I thought maybe she'd been crying. I weighed my options. Betray my sister or let my mother suffer. Neither was a good option.

"You're quiet tonight," my mother pointed out, and I could sort of feel it as she moved around the room. A plate clinked on our table as she set it down in front of me. She sat down next to me.

I picked up my hotdog and bit into it. It was still cold in the middle but I ate it anyway.

I wasn't even finished eating yet when I heard my mom start dialing the phone to call someone else. I bit my lip.

"Have you called the Vantas house yet?" I asked.

"No," she replied, the phone still ringing.

"I'll go over and ask them in person then, I bet Kankri knows something," I lied.

"Do you need help?"

I rolled my useless eyes. Of course, she'd ask me that.

"I'm blind, mom, not helpless," I reminded her. She didn't reply, just hung up the phone when no one answered. I wished I could see her face at that moment. I felt a little bad for saying that to her, but I hated it when she acted like I couldn't do regular things just because I was blind.

I called my dog and gripped his collar, leading us to the front door where I slipped on his harness and buckled it firmly around him. I opened the door and he lead me out into the warm summer evening.

The first time I stepped outside after my accident, I cried. I still had a vivid memory of what the neighborhood looked like, but it was difficult to deal with not actually being able to see it. Now it was like I inhabited detailed paintings in my head. I could still see where I was, I could picture it, but I could see it.

I got Pyral three months after my accident and he was both my new best friend and my guardian. He helped me down the street and kept me out of people's front lawns. Without him, I'd probably be wandering aimlessly with my cane.

The Vantas house as I remember it was sort of a burgundy red house with gray shutters and a red door, marked with a cancer zodiac sign from a Halloween prank gone bad. Mr. Vantas was a pretty easy going person, but since the Fourth of July, everyone had made sort of a point to avoid him. Lucky for me, he wasn't home.  
I beat on the front door, Pyral stood quietly at my side. I heard the door open.

"Hello Terezi, how are you today?" Kankri Vantas answered the door. He was a long time friend of my sister's, but he hadn't been around much since she and Mituna started dating.

"I'm good," I grinned, "well, as good as a blind kid wandering around in the dark could be."

"The suns still out," Kankri informed me.

"It's all black to me," I laughed. I'd hung around him enough to know which unsettled face he was making at me.

"I'm just kidding," I waved him off, "is Karkat home?"

"Yes," he said hesitantly, "but so is Dave Strider."

I thought for a moment. I don't know why I expected anything different. Karkat didn't like me the same way I liked him… Or the way I thought maybe I liked him, and that was just.. Just there. That was just how it was. If I was going, to be honest, I still didn't know how I felt about him six weeks later.

"Could I talk to him?" I asked anyway.

"Sure. Come in, you can leave your shoes on," Kankri offered.

All the houses on this block were exactly the same. My house had the exact same floor plan as Karkat's so I had no trouble traversing the house with Pyral at my side. We followed Kankri to the back of the house and then outside again. Kankri stopped at the back door, letting me out into his fenced in yard.

"Karkat?" I questioned. His back deck was different from mine, I didn't know where it ended so I stayed put.

"Over here," he spoke, and I heard his feet on the grass as he came closer to me.

"The step is about two feet in front of you," he said hesitantly like he was afraid to insult me. I didn't need his help but I didn't mention it. I knew Pyral wouldn't let me fall, he'd back off if he thought it was dangerous. I took a few steps forward and found the landing, and I got down the steps without any further coaching.

"Hi Terezi," Dave greeted. I could smell his stupid hipster perfume from where I stood.

"Hi guys," I greeted in a tone as even as I could make it.

"What's up?" Dave asked. His voice sounded like he was sitting below me, probably on the ground.

"I just had to get out of my house for a while."

"Your sister?" Karkat asked.

"How'd you know?"

"Kankri won't shut the hell up about her," Karkat was probably rolling his eyes.

I didn't say anything, I just sat down in the grass. Pyral sat down next to me.

"I know how much you like her, do you wanna talk about it?" Karkat questioned. He sounded level with me, so he was probably sitting too.

This was getting weird, quick. Did I really wanna talk about this with my once best friend/failed crush thing? I'd told Vriska to piss up a rope earlier this week and we hadn't reconciled yet. I was out of options.

"My mom is freaking out about Latula and I keep trying to tell her, but I can never make myself," I sighed deeply, "Latula made me promise. But it's not right to do this to my mom."

"Jesus Christ, what? Does your stooge of a sister honestly think it's up to you to keep her secret? Oh fuck," Karkat cursed. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"I mean, what in the scum sucking hell does she think she's doing anyway? They honestly couldn't wait until, I dunno, they weren't living in their godforsaken parent's houses? They're gonna make themselves miserable just like they've done to everyone around them."

Kankri must have really pissed Karkat off to shove him off the deep end into a rant like that.

"Dude, not helping," Dave told him. Karkat heaved a huge sigh and continued calmer.

"Sorry, I got off track there. You should tell your mom."

I turned my head down. I wished I'd worn a hood.

"Latula will be mad. Mom'll scream at her," I said after a long pause.

"Latula did that to herself," Karkat replied firmly.

"We know she's your sister Terezi, and I dunno what the hells going on but it sounds like it'd be better for you to just tell your mom," Dave added. "Mom trumps sister. Sorry, I don't make the rules."

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"Latula loves you. She won't be mad for long," Karkat assured. "Plus, I mean it's not like she wasn't gonna get screamed at anyway."

He had a point.

"Yeah. It's like stepping on a Lego you left on the floor. Like that shit became lodged right in there, and your asking who the fuck could have done this, this inconceivable tragedy," Dave's words made me laugh.

"Okay Strider, no more metaphors. Or coffee," Karkat chastised. I laughed a little harder.

"Thanks you guys," I grinned.

"Your welcome," Karkat replied just as Dave said "No problem."

"You should come hang out with us more often, it's dead around here without your bone chilling cackles," Dave continued. He was probably smirking.

"Are you sure I wouldn't be third-wheeling?" I asked. They were a thing after all, and I hadn't spoken to either of them much since they'd gotten together. We'd all been good friends once upon a time.

They were much, much better friends to me than Vriska had been, I realized.

"Nah, you're too cool to third wheel."

I smiled a little wider. "Thanks, cool kid."

Hanging out with these shmucks was way better than spending the summer alone.

"Can I pet your dog now?" Dave deadpanned.

"Sure." I wasn't supposed to let him, Pyral was working and he wasn't supposed to get treats or pets from anyone else but me. I could let Dave slide, though, just this once. He was a pretty awesome dog.

"It's super rude to ask people to pet their service dog, just so you know," I stated, reaching out to pet my dog too.

"Shit, really? I'm sorry," he apologized. I just sort of shrugged.

"It's fine. At least you aren't gawking. Sometimes when Latula takes us to the mall people take pictures of him. That makes me so mad. Sometimes I can hear their phones taking a picture, or sometimes Latula straight up tells them off," I vented.

"That is pretty inconsiderate of them," Karkat agreed.

"I think I better head home now, and tell my mom," I said after a while of silence and dog petting. I stood up, and Pyral stood with me, ready to be my guide despite the extra attention. He was good at his job, and he loved me.

"Want me to walk you out?" Dave asked.

"I'm good I think, just direct me to the gate?" I requested. I heard the grass rustle as Karkat stood up.

"This way," he said, and I walked along side of him. The Vantas family had a fence around their entire yard, but they did have a gate in front that let out onto the front yard. I waited patiently as he fussed with the latch and let me out.

"Thanks."

"Don't be a stranger," he bid. I smiled and waved over my shoulder.

Maybe this was it. Maybe six weeks was long enough to forgive and understand. It didn't hurt anymore to be near them. Dave and Karkat were happy together, and maybe I should settle for being happy as their friend.

I made the short walk home slowly and climbed my steps even slower. I resolved to tell my mom everything, and I committed to it as I entered my house.

"Mom?" I called, shutting the front door behind me.

"In here," my mother responded.

"Hi, Terezi," came the lofty voice of Vriska's mom. She and my mom went way back, apparently. I'd never actually got the story of how they'd meet out of them.

"Hi, Mrs. Serket. Is Vriska here?" I asked

"Call me Mindfang, Mrs. Serket sounds stuffy," she replied, "and no, Vriska's out with her girlfriend."

Out with her girlfriend again? We weren't talking when she and Meenah got together, but I'd known about her crush. It didn't surprise me when they got together. What did surprise me what the incredible amount of time they spent together.

Making my way into the kitchen, I seated myself at the kitchen table. I moved the chair cockeyed from the table, facing away from the surface so I could position Pyral between my legs.

"Sure," I said flatly because I didn't know how else to respond.

"Did Kankri Vantas know anything?" My mother asked, standing somewhere to my left in the kitchen. I wondered if she was cooking, but we'd just ate.

"No," I replied, leaning down to take Pyral's harness off if him.

There was some shuffling around in the kitchen, I thought maybe paperwork but I couldn't be sure. I heard the water hit the bottom of the sink and it ran for a few minutes while my mom washed a pan. Nobody said anything.

The surface of my skin felt like a million pins were pricking me, while my muscles felt like something was crawling between them. I was getting a headache, and my stomach was starting to feel sick.

"Mom," I said, and my mouth felt dry, "I know where Latula is."

The pan my mother was washing fell to the sink basin, and something else clattered to the floor. She rushed to me. I felt her hand on my cheek, tilting my face to look at her, and her other on my shoulder, gripping the fabric of my shirt. I stiffened.

"What did you say?" She asked, breathlessly. She was probably kneeling in front of me. Her face was probably only inches from mine.

"I know where Latula is," I repeated.

My mother's grip on my shirt tightened.

"Terezi, why didn't you tell me?" She sounded like she was either in tears or near tears.

"Neophyte, you should sit down," Mindfang said softly, and she sounded closer. I wondered if she had her hand on my mom's shoulder or something else comforting.

"Terezi, why didn't you say anything?" My mother demanded.

"She asked me not to," I confessed, and it sounded like a confession, no matter how hard I tried to keep emotion out of my voice, "She made me promise not to tell. All the other kids in the neighborhood that went to school with them know. Aranea knew, Meulin knew, but it's a secret. Nobody was supposed to squeal."

"Where is she?" My mother demanded, hanging off my words.

"She drove Mituna and herself to Las Vegas. They wanted to get married."

"Neophyte," Mindfang spoke again, and my mother's hands left my person. A chair nearby scraped on the floor. My mother sighed deeply. I heard the chair creek as she sat down.

"I just don't understand? Why wouldn't they just- just," my mother paused, seemingly at a loss, "why didn't they just go down to the court house or something? Or leave a note? Or say something?"

"Am I in trouble?" I asked quietly.

My mother drew in a sharp breathe and waited a moment before she responded. "No. No, let me just. No. We'll talk later but right now I need to call Psiioniic."

The chair scraped the floor again and she got up. I heard her take out house phone out of the rack and then walk upstairs. I couldn't tell where Vriska's mom was, but then I heard her foot steps in the kitchen. I think she went to the cabinet we kept cups in, and I heard the glass clink as she got one down.

"Would you like some tea, Terezi?" She asked.

"No thank you," I declined.

I heard the water run and the microwave start and more rummaging through my kitchen cabinets.

"You said Aranea knew that they were leaving?" She asked over the noise.

"Yes, almost everyone did," I agreed. "Once stuff gets around to Meulin Leijon pretty much everyone knows."

She hummed, acknowledging my words without any of her own. I heard the water pour and she walked across the kitchen to sit near me at the table.

"You did the right thing, Terezi."

"It doesn't feel like it," I replied. I ducked my head away as a force of habit, turning my face away.

"Sometimes it doesn't," Mindfang's voice softened to a tone I had only ever heard her use with Aranea. Motherly and comforting. "What do you say we organize a movie night or something? I think Aranea is just sitting alone at my house, and your mom could use some calming down."

"I don't know how to work the audio description on the television," I told her.

"I can figure it out. I'll go get your mom," she was gone a few moments later, I heard her climbing the stairs.

Latula would be mad at me. I wondered if she'd call my cell phone later. I didn't know what I would tell her if she did. They probably weren't even half way to Las Vegas yet. I took my phone out of my pocket and resolved to give it to my mother. My mom could handle it better than me. There wasn't any shame in not knowing what to do, I figured.

* * *

I keep trying, to sum up sub plots and this story just keeps making more. Eventually, this needs an ending, and I dunno how I'm gonna do that.  
I think this pretty much sums up the Dave/Karkat/Terezi problem that started in chapter two. I think next I'll try, to sum up the Damara/Kankri/Cronus plot line and after that the Latula college subplot.  
Kurloz/Meulin needs more time in story to resolve, and I have another Rosemary chapter to occur later, in August. This chapter is set in late July.


	21. On My Enemies (DamaraKankriCronus)

I dont know what happened here.

* * *

Damara Megido told me that I needed therapy. After that day she'd saw me at work, she visited almost every day. Sometimes with Cronus Ampora, sometimes not.

I really liked to think that with all the internet social justice work I did, I'd know if I needed therapy or not but that apparently wasn't what she meant. She hadn't meant I needed professional help at all, she just wanted me to hang out with her and Cronus. Badly.

I guess that's how I ended up in her back yard, standing awkwardly at her gate and trying to hide the half empty bottle of whiskey I'd swiped from my dad's stash. He only drank on holidays, he'd never miss it.

I wondered if maybe I should have told Porrim where I was going. Then again, she was out with Latula and Mituna and a whole slew of our neighbors, congratulating the newlyweds. I didn't particularly want anything to do with that outing.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed open Damara's gate and let myself into her yard.

Damara was sitting at a picnic table near a small fire pit with Cronus right across from her. There was a blue cooler under one end, and firewood stacked under the other. Across the yard, under her porch canopy, a small stereo was on the local pop radio station.

"Hey, Chief! Cronus greeted, fussing with the straps of his bro tank.

"Hey," Damara drawled, smiling. She didn't have her usual makeup on, I realized.

"Hello," I returned, coming closer to them, "what should I do with this?"

I held out the half pint of whiskey like it was diseased.

"Oh, I was just kidding about bringing booze when I invited you!" Damara sort of snickered. She took it from me, though, and tossed it in the cooler near her feet.

"Thanks, though, was nice 'a ya'," Cronus grinned.

I nodded and swallowed hard. What was going on here? I don't think I'd ever been around Cronus when he wasn't cracking old shitty jokes or being lewd about every person he saw nearby. And what was with Damara? Was she smiling? And she wasn't being mean?

"Sit down, won't ya' bud?" Cronus asked, motioning to the seat next to Damara. "Or aren't you stayin'?"

"Er, no, I am," I disagreed, "I just uh," I let my words trail off as I sat down stiffly.

Cronus went back to what he was doing, playing on his phone or something, but Damara got up, picking up a piece of firewood and feeding the fire. It was around eight o' clock in the evening. The summer sun was setting and Damara's yard lights came on, little strings of almost Christmas lights glowing on her fence, her canopy and on her house. They must have been on a timer.

"I gotta go check on Aradia, I'll be right back," Damara announced, leaving the fire in favor of the house. She used the sliding door and disappeared into her house.

"Her folks left for the weekend, left her in charge, " Cronus filled in without prompting.

"Oh? And they're alright with her having friends over when they aren't home?" I asked.

He just sort of shrugged. "Her stepdad not so much, but her mom never says anything."

I just sort of nodded and let Cronus talk.

"Coincidentally, I'm babysitting Eridan tonight too, I'm gonna have to go check on him after a while. Pain in my ass is what he is. I liked him better when he lived at my mother's."

The sliding glass door slid open and closed again as Damara returned, this time with a stack of red solo cups.

"Well?" Cronus asked.

"She's doing fine I guess. I don't remember being so silly when we were her age, but whatever. Still playing dungeons and dragons online with her friend," Damara snarked, pulling a cup off the pile and bending down to the cooler. She pulled out three cans of Pepsi and the whiskey before she sat down.

I watched her crack a can and pour it into the cup, and then twist the lid off of the whiskey. There was only half a bottle there, so really there wasn't enough to get drunk on. Not even buzzed. She passed the first drink she mixed over to Cronus.

"Dunno. All them kids are weirdoes, getting up to weird shit. I swear, Eridan comes up with so much shit to fight about," Cronus offered. Damara rolled her eyes at the sentiment.

She mixed a second drink and slid it my way. "What about you, Kankri? What's your brother up to?"

"He's," I paused, grasping the drink in my left hand and staring down into the fizzing liquid. "Still as grumpy as he's always been. Just, now he's love sick with Roxy Strider's younger brother."

"Oh, yeah," Cronus agreed. "Heard all about that. Eridan bullies his sister and her little girlfriend pretty bad I guess."

"What for?" I found myself asking.

Cronus shrugged. "He's a mean spirited individual 's all I can come up with."

I stared down into my drink, feeling the cold radiate off of the cup. The yard was silent for just a moment, save for the radio. Finally, after what felt like forever, I took a quick slurp from the cup. It didn't taste bad, more bitter than regular Pepsi. I couldn't feel the burn of the alcohol at all.

Damara emptied the rest of the whiskey into a third cup and kept that drink for herself.

"Okay, but here's the real question," she said, "what are these brats gonna do when we all go off to college?"

"Mituna Captor is sticking around," I offered.

"Fat lot of good that'll do," Cronus rolled his eyes.

I averted my eyes for a moment, rubbing my arm absentmindedly. He was right, but I guess I didn't see the need to point it out. I resisted the urge to lecture him about ableist language.

That was the old me. New Kankri didn't pick fights for stupid reasons. He wasn't being ablest either, I realized. He and Mituna had disliked each other before his accident. This whole thinking before I spoke thing was really working out well.

The conversation reached a stopping point then. I was extremely uncomfortable but I could tell the other two weren't. Damara was looking at something on her phone, smiling a bit and Cronus was checking his hair on her mirror phone case.

I really didn't need to break the silence. I didn't need to. I just needed to keep my mouth shut. I'd be better off. They'd think better of me. The absolute last thing I needed to do was talk.

"So um, Damara, did you have a reason you needed me? Or, like a reason to call me over?"

Goddamn it.

Damara kind of scrunched up her eyebrows. Paired with her defensive smile, I could tell I'd offended her. "What? No, I don't have a reason. I just wanted to hang out."

Er, maybe I hadn't offended her? I think maybe I was confusing her.

"Oh," I replied. I felt pretty dumb right about then.

"I think I get it," she said, "at first I couldn't decide if maybe you wanted someone to need you, but are you worried we're gonna shaft you?"

I- er, was I? Was I worried Damara and Cronus were going to get a call, get a text, meet someone else and drop me like Latula? Porrim was my best friend, probably my only friend for a while there, but she had other people she wanted to hang out with too.

"I think maybe I, uh, I think maybe I am?" I agreed. "It's just so, everything's up in the air. I deleted all my blogs, I got off Facebook, and I've just spent so much time trying to connect but in the wrong way."

"Especially with Latula. Why didn't she think she needed to talk to me? Couldn't she have even acknowledged the fact I had feelings for her? She didn't think twice about brushing me off as a friend or a partner. Don't tell me for years she had no idea I had a crush on her."

"Holy fuck, and Porrim. She tried to tell me so much stuff over the years and I just brushed her off. She actually cared about real issues that mattered and all I cared about was arguing about frivolous things. How do I just go forward with her? How do I go forward with anyone? I'm gonna fucking trigger myself, oh my god."

The space was quiet for just a moment as I took a deep breath, I could feel my cheeks burning.

"Holy word vomit, chief," Cronus deadpanned.

"Kankri," Damara began. She paused, unsure how to proceed. "Kankri, that's progress."

"How can it be progress?" I argued.

"Well, first of all recognizing the problem is the first step. Latula wasn't under any obligation to come to you about your feelings. Girls aren't obligated to boys fit any romantic reason, but it was wrong of her as a friend to treat you the way she did," Damara tried to explain. It sounded like something Porrim would say.

"You're right," I muttered, looking down at my hands. Porrim had been right all along.

"That's okay, dude," Cronus grinned, reaching over to give me a gentle shove. "She's learning me about all this stuff too."

"You're way too hung up on Latula, forget about her," Damara urged.

"I wish it was that simple," I rolled my eyes.

"I'll give you something to think about instead, come here," Cronus chatted. He stood up and came around to my side of the table and slid in next to me, sandwiching me between Damara and himself.

"What?" I questioned.

Cronus didn't say another word. He leaned in, invading my personal space. I couldn't lean away from him, not with Damara hard on my other side. Cronus closed the space between us and pressed his lips to mine. His lips were wet and warm and I'd..I'd never kissed anyone besides Porrim once on a dare, and it took me just a moment to even realize what was going on. He was pulling away before I even got a chance to kiss back.

Cronus smirked, rocking back and licking his lips. I couldn't feel my head.

"What-" I started to say.

"My turn," Damara cut me off. She twisted my face around, her hand rough on my chin and before I knew it she was kissing me too.

She pulled away and I exhaled finally, hot breath passing between us.

"I think you're cute, Kankri. Cronus thinks you are too," She whispered.

"W-w-what?" I stammered.

She nodded. "We weren't gonna ask you for another couple of weeks, though, Cronus kind of jumped the gun. What do you think, huh? Would you have us?"

I felt her kick Cronus in the shin between my legs.

"Ow, shit, Damz!" He complained, "I couldn't wait no more. The poor guys just so glum. We really did invite you over no strings attached, though, Kankri. It sort of snowballed."

"Hold on, hold on just one second," I defied, "how am I supposed to date you both? How could that possibly work?"

Damara shrugged. Cronus pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and pinned it between his lips.

"Won't I get between the two of you?"

"Oh, oh god no!" Cronus rejected. "We ain't dating."

That only served the further bewilder me. "You aren't?"

"Nah, chief. We're buds but I couldn't see it."

"You can't see dating Damara, but you can see both of you sharing dating me?" I asked. This was getting weirder and weirder by the minute. Cronus nodded. Damara reached over and snatched his cigarette pack out of his hand. I watched her light one up out of the corner of my eye.

"We get it if you're weirded out," Damara said, blowing her smoke away from us.

"She might be," Cronus half-joked, earning him another kick to the shin.

"This is really," I took a deep breath, "sudden."

"We're not asking you to literally enter a relationship tonight," Damara made clear.

Cronus plucked his pack back out of her hands. "Yeah, there's this thing called datin'? Ever heard of it?"

Oh. Oh, okay sure. That made more sense. That was less scary. The funny thing about this was even though they were literally shoulder to shoulder with them but I didn't feel boxed in. I wasn't relaxed either, but I wasn't so tense my muscles cramped. "So you're asking me to date you. Both. See if I like it, and then, if, if I do, you want me to what? Make it into some kind of three-way relationship? How would that work?"

"Oh, ya' know. We'd work it out," Cronus turned around, sitting the wrong way now and leaning on the table. "Shit. I gotta go check on my little worm of a brother."

"You think on it Kankri. In the meantime, let's just have fun, alright?" Damara asked, and for the first time she took her drink and knocked it back. I wondered if she was trying to look cool too, like Cronus.

Eventually, Cronus got up and left to check on his brother, leaving me with Damara to make small talk about small things. I was surprised by how natural it felt. Cronus was back after about fifteen minutes, a hand full of candy with him.

"For the festivities," he said, dumping it out on the table.

"Thanks," Damara replied, grabbing up a piece of salt water taffy and popping it into her mouth. I watched her reach up and pull her hair tie out, her bun coming undone and falling around her shoulders. I never realized it was so long.

"What was your brother up to?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

Cronus opened a bag of sour patch kids and huffed. "Reading an old history book. Kid never gets out and does anything."

"Where's your dad at tonight?" I followed up.

"Work, I think. Dunno, he don't usually tell me. My old man isn't much for conversation," he replied, popping a piece of candy in his mouth. "What about yours?"

I guess my dad had been a pretty sore subject since the fourth. I wasn't near as unhappy with him as Karkat and Nepeta. We were still on speaking terms, but the relationship wasn't what it used to be.

"He's out with his girlfriend," I answered.

Damara considered that for a moment. "Was that whole situation weird? I heard all about it."

"The whole neighborhood heard all about it," I frowned, "it was weird, but it could have been worse. I guess. I gained two sisters, but it's not like we hang out."

"Parents," Cronus scoffed, opening another bag of candy.

Wheels squealed on the blacktop outside of the yard. I couldn't see who's car it was obviously but I'd bet money it was Meenah. She drove like a maniac. Damara was up moments later, jogging over and jumping up on to her privacy fence to peer over it.

"Shit," she swore. "I think her whole house is empty. Her mom is still at work and her sister is over to the captors."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked. Oh no. Damara had some sort of one-ups-manship going on with her, didn't she? Cronus was already on his feet.

"Food dye or toilet paper?"

"Neither," Damara answered, "were gonna leave her a present."

She was off the fence moments later, dashing up her porch steps and into her house. She left the door open she was moving so quickly.

"You comin'?" Cronus asked, turning to me.

"Is she going to vandalize something?" I thought to inquire.

"Don't matter, we're just gonna watch from the window," he replied. He waited for me to get up, and I followed him inside.

Shutting the door behind me, I surveyed Damara's house. It was an exact replica of my own, but her mother had very different decorating habits. Damara spoke Japanese but I never asked her where she'd learned it. A few pictures on the wall in her hallway implied it was her mother.

There was a woman I recognized as Mrs. Droog and kids that had to have been Aradia and Damara, standing in front of a sign that read Tokyo airport with other people looking related. There were other pictures of them too in other places. From a vacation maybe? Newer photos contained pictures of her stepfather, but Damara was in them less frequently.

"Kankri," Cronus called from the front room, and I realized he'd left me.

I joined him in the living room, hanging out the front door. Meenah's house wasn't directly across the way, it was more to the right, kitty-corner.

There was Damara, across the street, a little brown bag in her hand, and left it on the porch. Before anyone could see her she slunk back into her own yard and escaped into the house.

She giggled, happy to apparently be causing someone else grief.

Moments later, Meenah pulled back into her driveway. She'd apparently just run to the corner party store because she and Vriska Serket got out of her car. She appeared to notice the bag right away, and she shoved her Arizona tea into Vriska's hand.

Meenah picked up the bag, she handled it carefully. She took one look inside and even from where I was standing I could see her face turn beat red.

"This isn't funny Megido!" She shouted, scowling.

Behind me, Damara was still laughing, and grinning like a fox.

"What was it?" Cronus asked.

"I got her a ball gag, so she'd shut her fucking trap!"

I felt my face heat with a blush too. Cronus split, literally slapping his knee. It wasn't that funny. Well, okay maybe it was. I found myself laughing too. Meenah was still standing in her yard, looking flustered, and that only made me laugh harder.

"Damara! I'm hungry! Would you order us a pizza?" Aradia called from her bedroom.

Damara wasn't laughing that hard, but she held on to her smirk as she fixed her shorts and sighed. She said something in Japanese to Aradia and then to us asked; "you guys cool with pepperoni?"

" 's cool with me," Cronus affirmed.

I liked them both, I decided. I liked talking with them and listening to them just as much. They both did little things that made me feel like they genuinely wanted me around as much as they wanted each other. If this was Damara's idea of therapy then maybe I was going to need a lot more if it.


	22. Issues (Karkat)

Hey all! Happy Anniversary to this little fic project!

I've had a lot of fun with this, and I hope I still keep having fun with it. For the anniversary I kicked around another Latuna chapter, but actually after the Jane/Gamzee fic the Karkat chapter has the most comments, and still needed resolved. Here it is! -throws confetti- Here's to Karkat's (perfectly understandable) mommy issues.  
I named the first fic in this succession "My Youth Is Yours" and I have actually since seen Troye Sivan in concert! He's great guys.

* * *

The mailman came and went all summer. It was about as uneventful as bingo in a room full of goldfish. He came and went every day without saying a word, just shoved my dad's junk mail in the box and continued on to the next. But today was different. Today he pulled his freshly washed mail truck into my driveway and got out.

I'd been watching him since the fourth of July. I had his schedule down better than my timestables. I knew when he got out of the truck he either the mailbox was either full, or he had a package. I'd gotten our mail every day, so I knew the box wasn't full. I raced to greet him at our front door.

"Here's your mail," he smiled, holding out a package with all of the regular stuff resting on top.

"Thank you!" I replied hastily, taking the box just as quick.

The mailman turned and left without any more fanfare, and I was thankful for that. I turned, slamming the door dashing to the kitchen to dump everything on the counter. I didn't care about anything else in the pile of mail, I'd been waiting for this box for two weeks and now it was finally in my hands. I paused just a moment to look it over.

It was just a simple box. Small, white, with the USPS logo on it. The mailing address was to me. I ran my fingers over the letters, feeling the bumps where my uncle had pressed his pen into the cardboard.

 _To: Karkat Vantas_

 _From: Jack Noir_

I'd almost forgotten my Uncle's real name wasn't Slick. Slick was a nickname my mom gave him, he'd told me when I was a kid. We didn't see him much. A few phone calls a year. He tried to stay in touch, but my dad made it hard for him.

He'd been kind enough to send me his memories, though.

I couldn't wait anymore, I decided. I could look at the bid again later, I reasoned as I reached into our junk drawer to pull out the scissors. I felt like my hands should have been trembling as I cut through the packaging tape, but they were steady. I took one last deep breath before I pulled the cardboard flaps back.

I expected there to be pictures, maybe in frames, maybe old polaroids, maybe even something that used to be hers. Anything physical, anything to do with her, but no. Inside there was a CD, a bag of pre-buttered, unpopped popcorn and an envelope labeled "OPEN ME FIRST."

So I did.

I felt like I should have been careful with these items, but I couldn't bring myself to. I ripped open the envelope with vigor, gritting my teeth as I tore the top fold off of it with my nail. I snatched the faded notebook paper out of the envelope and unfolded it as fast as I could.

 _Dear Karkat,_

 _Hey kid! How are you? I haven't seen you in so long except on Kankri's Facebook pictures. Send me some recent ones when you get this, will ya?_

 _Anyway, I'm sure you're wondering about the pictures, and how there aren't any. I put them all on the DVD in the box. There were too many pictures, too much stuff I wanted to show you, the box was gonna cost like fifty bucks to send! But I got more on the DVD than I ever wanted to send._

 _Pop the corn and pop in the movie. Love you kid._

 _Enjoy_

 _Uncle Slick_

I picked up the bag of popcorn and looked it over for just a second. Then I popped the plastic and opened it. I turned around and threw it in the microwave. The two minutes it took to pop it were enough to give me time to cool down. I hadn't even noticed my hands were sweating until they slipped off the microwave buttons.

Deep breathes. Take deep breathes. Calm down.

Jesus Christ the kid everyone went to ask for advice from couldn't even take his own.

Past Karkat was such a fucking idiot for thinking this was a good idea. This was a bad idea. I should have just fucking suppressed my emotions like an adult and dealt with my mommy issues alone.

I thought about Dave for a second. Between the two of us, we didn't have a stable parent, but he came here because it was still better than what he had. I didn't want him around right now, I didn't want him to see me so nervous. So visibly shaken.

My chest felt tight, and standing on my legs felt like pins and needles. I didn't know what to expect but I knew it couldn't be good. Nothing about cancer was ever good.

The beep of the microwave made me jump. Huffing, I grabbed a bowl out of my cabinet and poured the now popped corn in it. I didn't salt it, just picked up my bowl and my box and went to the living room.

Kankri was gone today, hanging out with two new friends or something. My dad was at work, and he was going out with Disciple later. I'd have the house to myself for the foreseeable future.

I laid the box down on the couch and picked up the remote. I switched the television to the auxiliary channel and went to the DVD player. I didn't think too much about it as I placed the CD in the tray. I went through the motions mechanically.

I sat down as the player read the disc, and suddenly the no signal screen flipped over to the black loading screen. This wasn't like a movie, it didn't have a home screen or music, it just went right to the pictures.

I wished there would have been more delay, but the first photo slapped me in the face like a sharp hand.

Just like that there she was. Labeled on the photo was the year nineteen seventy-six. It was yellowed, with poor coloration, but their faces were bright and happy. There was a woman I recognized as my grandmother, and then two children. A boy and a girl, both just babies. My uncle and my mother.

The screen changed moments later, another picture of her when she was young, only about five or six, with a big orange cat cradled in her arms. It had a bonnet on, and dolls all around her, with a baby bed, made up next to them.

They moved when she was still a kid, and all of the next photos were taken in their new house. There were so many pictures of her when she was young, labeled with years and months, exact dates of life events. Photos yellowed with time, but still preserving the memory. Some were smaller than others, pixelated by the computer as it was forced to stretch to fit the screen.

There were pictures of her in middle school, in eighties bell bottoms and big rimmed glasses.

Pictures of her with friends I didn't recognize. Some stayed through the years, some didn't. I thought maybe one of the girls had been Vriska's mother, but I wasn't sure. There were pictures of her birthdays, with big numbered candles stuck on the cake.

A series of photos ticked by, labeled nineteen-eighty nine were taken at the state science fair, according to a banner in the background. She stood in front of a science board. It was hard to tell what color because of some spots that were caused by the camera. There was a second photo of her in goggles, standing over some electrical circuit. The final photo was of her smiling face, holding a blue ribbon that was the size of her head. She looked so happy, grinning as big and bright as she could. I tried to burn that photo into my memory.

She graduated when she was eighteen in nineteen ninety-two. The fashion was starting to change now, and her senior pictures were taken in the woods in autumn. She was wearing a college sweater, one where I knew for a fact she'd gone to. These photos were better quality, kept away from the light so as not to fade them. The colors of the leaves were vibrant, and so was the red of her hair. I'd always thought it was browner. She looked flawless, down to the makeup covering her pimples.

She was so beautiful. I loved her the way only nostalgia could allow. Her hair was long and straight, and her eyes were the same brown as mine too. We had the same eye color. That made my heart skip a beat.

There were several pictures of her at her graduation, in her cap and gown, and in the very last photo, I recognized my dad nearby.

From there the photos got more sparse. She got older and my dad was more frequently in them.

In nineteen ninety-five, they got married. I must have watched wedding photos flash by for twenty minutes. All the rest of my family was in the photos, sure, but I could tell my uncle was careful to pick the ones that highlighted her.

Her dress was more of a pearl color than white. The skirt was made of just a few plain ruffles, but the sleeves were long and poofy, like some kind of Disney princess. I grinned, thinking about her as Cinderella.

Stella Noir became Stella Vantas on May fifth, nineteen ninety-five. By May sixth, there were photos of their honeymoon. They'd gone camping with what looked like a bunch of their friends. There were less and less high school friends left in these photos, but now I was sure that was Vriska's mother. She stuck around.

I hadn't see Disciple in any of these photos. Not yet anyway. She appeared in nineteen ninety-six, twenty years ago in a picture of my parents standing in front of our house as it was still being built. Disciple was in it, and so was Psiionic Captor and Highblood Makara, our neighbors.

Sollux's dad was giving the camera a double peace sign and what? Did he use to have long hair? Oh, Sollux was gonna love to see this. And Gamzee's dad! Holy shit the guy used to be ripped. Seriously, like rip his shirt if he flexed ripped. This was so surreal. Gamzee's crazy mother was standing next to him, and it was hard to tell her apart from how she looked down. Gamzee was a mess but that woman was a land mine.

There were pictures of my parents now, one or the other now they lived alone. There was a few of my mom holding a blonde puppy, rocking it like she had the cat fifteen years earlier. I was too little to remember it much about that dog, like what happened to it, but I did know it would outlive her.

Kankri was born in nineteen ninety-nine. There were pictures of her at the hospital, and then pictures of her at home, letting her pet meet her son. Kankri was in every picture after that, being held while he fussed or drank a bottle.

The new millennium passed later that year, and there was a single picture of just her looking nervous with those stupid two thousand glasses on with eyeholes in the zeros. Didn't everyone think the computers were all going to explode or something?

The very next photo skipped a whole year and wound up in two thousand one. She wasn't looking so good in this photo as she hugged my uncle Slick, very heavily pregnant with me.

She looked worse in the photo of her in the hospital, holding baby me in her arms. She looked so tired, more than she had in the picture with Kankri, with sweat clung to her forehead and bags under her eyes. My uncle had said they'd found the cancer when she had me.

It was hard to watch her deteriorate. There were only two more pictures of her after that one. One of her holding me and Kankri, looking too thin. Her clothes hung off of her. The blonde dog was in the background, having lost its youthful look.

The last one was a photo of her in what I recognized as our living room, laying in a hospital bed without hair. She was smiling still, and holding me with a newly five-year-old Kankri by her side. She didn't see my third birthday.

I was crying all of a sudden. Not crying, sobbing. Ugly sobbing that made my headache and my jaw numb.

I didn't know she'd lived that long. She died in two thousand three. Two thousand three. Thirteen years ago, that was all. She'd lived only two years after I was born.

It wasn't fair. This wasn't fair. She was so pretty, and her smile was so pretty, and she was so- she was so… perfect. Why couldn't she still be here?

I wanted to tell her that I loved her.

The photo cut off suddenly and the screen was black for only a moment, humming before static overtook the speakers and a video started.

She was still laying down in the hospital bed, a hat on and a thick red sweater. There was a lot of commotion, the dog barking and my dad talking in the background.

"Snowman, how you holdin' up?" My uncle Slick asked from behind the camera.

"Bout as well as I can," she rolled her eyes, speaking in the same thick Brooklyn accent as my uncle.

"Yeah," my uncle agreed vaguely, "so uh, did ya' have anything ya' wanted to say to the camera?"

"Yeah, I want you ta' get that friggin' thing outta my face!" She hissed.

"No, for real," he insisted. My mother's expression softened. I was crying so hard, but I wanted to hear what she had to say. I tried to quiet myself down as best I could.

"Well," she huffed, "I don't exactly know who you're planning on showing this to. But. I guess um," she paused, biting her lip, "I'd tell everybody that I'm okay. And that I'm not sorry this happened. I wouldn't have lived my life any other way."

"That all?" My uncle asked.

"No," my mom said. "I love you, Jack. And I love my kids and my husband. I love Mindfang, and Disciple even. I love everybody."

She grinned, looking up at the camera.

"I love you too, Stella," my uncle said and the camera shifted to the floor before it shut off. The screen went blank after that, and with shaking hands, I turned the tv off.

Holy shit she said she loved me.

I wished I hadn't heard that, but at the same time, I don't think I could have lived another minute without. My chest ached, both from being crumbled in on myself and from crying. I wiped my nose on the back of my hand and drew my knees up to my chest and let everything out.

I loved her, I missed her. She was such a strong woman, and holy fuck I loved her so much. I couldn't believe I'd heard her say she loved me with my own ears.

"Karkat?" Nepeta Leijon's voice cut through my house. I'd left the back door unlocked in case Dave needed to get away from his house and Nepeta had apparently let herself in.

"Oh my god are you okay?" She asked, standing in my hallway.

" 'm fine," I muttered.

"Uhh, no?" She disagreed. "My mom wanted me to bring you over for lunch. She got off work early, but I don't think you're going anywhere like that. What's wrong?"

I tossed the box to her that contained the letter. I hurried my face in my hands as the paper rustled and she read the note. There wasn't much on it for her to draw a conclusion from.

"Holy crap," she said. "Is this, like, about your dad? Did somebody die?"

She looked worried, holding my letter gingerly. She wasn't leaving like I expected her to. If that were me I would have turned tail and ran unless it was Dave or John or somebody important. I needed to get my shit together. I couldn't talk to me friend, no, wait, my sister while I was crying. My sinuses were starting to burn anyway. I took a few deep, gasping breaths and scrubbed my eyes hard, trying to push the tears away.

"Not recently," I muttered. My chest still ached and I lost control for just a second before I shoved the tears back down with sniffles.

"What?" She asked, coming closer.

"Nobody's died recently," I said a little louder and a little clearer.

"What happened?" She came closer still. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

I really didn't want to tell her. I did anyway.

"My uncle sent me a video of pictures of my mom."

"Oh!" Her face lit up with realization. She came even closer, until she was almost on top of me before she sat down on the edge of the couch and placed a hand on my knee.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head no. This time I didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry, Karkat," she said, "do you maybe want to get your mind off of it for a while? My mom is making tuna fish."

I didn't want to move. I felt tired, emotionally exhausted. I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep. Nepeta… she cared I thought. Not like a friend and not like a sibling. Something in between but just as genuine. I wanted to tell her to leave, but I couldn't bring myself to push her away.

"Yeah," I croaked. I cleared my throat right after.

"Okay," She smiled and took my hand, helping me up off of the sofa. Her fingers curled around mine firmly, and her palm was warm. I let her lead me outside into the hot mid-day sun.

"Hey, Nepeta. After we eat, do you wanna take a picture with me?"

* * *

The end of this chapter was supposed to signify moving on, and his acceptance of Nepeta and Disciple.

The sun still shines kids.


End file.
